\n
The joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office,\u00a0OHCHR, documented 336 cases of human rights violations against media professionals between August 2021 and September 2024.<\/p>\n
Threats to press freedom\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n
“Journalists and media workers in Afghanistan work under unclear rules on what they can and cannot report, running the risk of intimidation and arbitrary detention for perceived criticism,\u201d said Roza Otunbayeza, head of UNAMA.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u201cFor any country, a free press is not a choice, but a necessity. What we\u2019re witnessing in Afghanistan is the systematic dismantling of this necessity\u201d.<\/p>\n
The report titled Media Freedom in Afghanistan outlined 256 instances of arbitrary arrest and detention, combined with 130 cases of torture and ill-treatment. An additional 75 documented cases of threats and intimidation have created a climate of fear.<\/p>\n
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk emphasised the broader implications of these restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Journalists and media workers are not just observers \u2013 they are essential to ensuring transparency and accountability, fostering informed debate,\u201d he said, adding that they are crucial in \u201chelping communities access vital information about humanitarian and protection issues that directly affect their lives\u201d.<\/p>\n
Female journalists face further barriers<\/h2>\n
The findings reveal that female media professionals face severe restrictions. Those who continue to work face discriminatory regulations affecting everything from dress codes to which stories they can cover.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the daily media briefing at UN Headquarters, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq highlighted this gender dimension: \u201cWomen journalists and media workers face particular discriminatory measures that limit their ability to do their work\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms. Otunbayeza also urged the de facto<\/em> authorities to \u201cfully recognise the importance of women working in the media sector\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\nFuture implications<\/h2>\n
The report also warns of the broader consequences of diminishing international support for Afghanistan\u2019s media sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnical and financial support for the media sector in Afghanistan, and thereby standing behind the importance of freedom of expression and public debate is instrumental for growth of the country,\u201d Ms. Otunbayeza concluded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking forward, the UN is calling on the de facto <\/em>authorities to honour Afghanistan\u2019s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedom of expression without discrimination. The report emphasises that free press is essential not just for transparency and accountability but for the country\u2019s social and economic development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery effort must be made to ensure that journalists and media workers, including all women are respected and protected,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA free and vibrant media is not a threat to stability \u2013 it is key to health and vitality of any society.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"yoast_head":"\n
UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-26T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2024-11-26T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":562,"height":340,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=48849"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan","datePublished":"2024-11-26T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=48849"},"wordCount":440,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif","articleSection":["Asia Pacific"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=48849","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511","name":"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif","datePublished":"2024-11-26T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/1732658823_image560x340cropped.avif","width":562,"height":340},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/11\/1157511#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UN report reveals widespread restrictions on media freedom in Afghanistan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}