Safety of journalists

The Global Safety Programme (GSP) is an innovative safety model, where IMS works with international partners to support the creation and development of national-led safety mechanisms – both people and processes – that need to be in place to ensure that the safety tools – both reactive and proactive – at a country’s disposal are used to maximum effect to manage risk for journalists and media houses.

What we do

• Develop innovative methods to interlink the four pillars of democracy and civil society around the three Ps of safety – Prevention, Protection and Prosecution – that underpin the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
• Connect the national, regional and international emergency response, advocacy and media development communities and build strategic alliances around the GSP’s core 5 principles – strategy, presence, reach, collaboration and sustainability.
• Support these alliances to coordinate and deliver a holistic range of digital, physical and psycho-social tools, ranging from reactive measures, from assistance to journalists in distress, to preventive measures, such as advocacy, training and focus on ending impunity through effective judicial measures.
• Develop a comprehensive action-orientated approach to gender-based violence against the media and how to counter it at national level.

The support is made possible through donations made by members of the Danish Union of Journalists and is used in cases where:

• A journalist has been killed or rendered otherwise incapable of sustaining his/her family;
• A journalist is in need of immediate protection as a result of a direct threat (relocation, safe houses, evacuation out of the country or region);
• Urgent legal or medical assistance is required.

Support is given only in the short-term, and no longer than 6 months, covering the immediate needs of the individual or his/her close relatives. The Safety Fund cannot be used as humanitarian support to journalists in cases where individuals are affected by natural disasters.

All cases are carefully vetted and support is coordinated with other members of the Journalists in Distress (JID) Network, a group of 24 international organisations assisting journalists and media workers whose lives or careers are threatened because of their work. The JID Network was established in 2006 to allow member organisations with freedom of expression mandates to more easily share information, coordinate joint efforts and avoid duplication.

In many closed societies, the internet is one of the few ways people can access independent, critical news and information. But staying online and accessible for their audiences has become a cat and mouse game that independent journalists and activists are forced to play with repressive authorities.

When their websites are blocked, their staff are surveilled and their equipment hacked, we support our partners in developing their ability to remain online, keep their files secure and ensure they can continue their work.