IMS Annual Report 2013

The past year has seen latent conflicts erupting in countries like the Central African Republic and South Sudan, ongoing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar intensifying, and protests bordering on conflict exploding in Ukraine and Venezuela.

In the midst of these disturbing developments, geopolitical trends are increasingly restricting the work of both national and international media and human rights organisations. The space is closing for the democracy and human rights agenda, a trend which started in the former Soviet Union, but now radiates from a wide range of countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America in which IMS works.

Laws restricting foreign funding for domestic non-governmental organisations and hostility towards those engaging in democracy and rights support constitute a serious challenge for organisations like IMS in the years to come. Careful, strategic and innovative thinking will be required to overcome these barriers to enable media to support democratic development.

This annual report provides an overview of the work IMS and our partners have carried out in 2013 to enable media to contribute towards peace, stability and democratic development around the world.