ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government is working on new legislation to safeguard the rights of journalists which will include setting up a commission to probe incidents of harassment and violence against media personnel, Pakistani human rights minister Dr. Shireen Mazari said on Friday.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York, last year ranked Pakistan number nine on an annual index of countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free. Nine of 65 journalists and media workers killed worldwide while on duty in 2020 were from Pakistan, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
In a Twitter post, Mazari shared the “Salient Features of Protection of Journalists and Media Professional Bill, 2021,” saying it would be tabled in the next session of the national parliament for debate and approval.
Today cabinet approved the Protection of Journalists & Media Professionals bill & the Forced or Involuntary Disappearance (Criminal Law Amendment) bill. Both will now be tabled in next session of NA thanks to PM @ImranKhanPTI's support for both bills. PTI delivers on commitments.
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) May 6, 2021
The bill comprises five parts, including sections on the rights of journalists, professional training and a redressal mechanism for complaints.
The proposed law upholds “every journalist and media professional’s right to life and security of person” and maintains that they should be “allowed to carry out their journalistic work in conflict-affected areas within the country without threats, intimidation, harassment or fear of persecution or targeting.”
It also makes it incumbent on the government to take necessary steps to protect media professionals “from all forms of abuse, violence and exploitation at the hands of any person, institution (private or public) or authority.”
Other than that, the draft legislation mentions the establishment of a ‘Commission for Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals’ that will include members of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, National Press Club and Ministries of Human Rights and Information and Broadcasting.
“The Bill empowers the Commission to provide redressal to journalists by inquiring into their complaints of threats, or acts of torture, killing, violent attacks, arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention and harassment, and determining cases that are eligible for compensation from relevant federal and provincial funds,” the document said.
