Minister announces body to monitor violence against journalists.
Proposal from unions and Fenaj was accepted by Flávio Dino.
Brazil Agency - The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, announced this Tuesday (17) the creation, within the ministry, of the National Observatory of Violence against Journalists. The proposal was brought to the minister by the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj).
"Responding to the request from journalists' unions, we will establish the National Observatory of Violence against Journalists within the Ministry of Justice, in order to engage in dialogue with the Judiciary and other institutions within the justice and public security system," the minister said in a social media post.
Dino met yesterday (16) with the entity's president, Samira de Castro, and representatives of the Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District and the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji).
The announcement comes just over a week after the December 8 coup in Brasília. At the time, at least 16 cases of aggression against media professionals were reported, according to a report by the Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District.
"The observatory's objective is to monitor cases of attacks against the category, mobilizing the competent bodies to curb the aggressions and hold the aggressors accountable, in addition to monitoring the investigations of the crimes committed in order to identify and hold the perpetrators responsible," explains Samira de Castro.
Fenaj suggests that the body be composed of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Human Rights and the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, in addition to representatives of organized civil society, such as the federation itself, the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), Abraji, the entity representing journalism professors and researchers, in addition to employer representatives, such as the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) and the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert).
This isn't a new proposal. Fenaj and journalists' unions have been trying to establish the mechanism since at least the June 2013 protests, almost 10 years ago.
"Violence against the profession has reached record levels in the last 4 years, and we have witnessed an organized attack on the headquarters of the Three Branches of Government and on the press itself, so that we can finally debate this initiative," said the president of Fenaj.
Exclusive channel
Another demand from journalists' unions is the opening of an exclusive channel for professionals to report cases of aggression suffered during the coup attempts.
According to the head of the Special Secretariat for Social Communication (Secom), Paulo Pimenta, the General Directorate of the Civil Police of the Federal District will designate a delegate specifically responsible for investigations involving attacks on journalists. The idea is to safeguard privacy and guarantee the safety of media professionals so they can carry out their duties without risk of further reprisals.
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