Action against SLAPPs on International Day to End Impunity against Journalists
In 2013, at its 68th session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163 which proclaimed the 2nd of November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
This landmark resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers, urges Member States to do their utmost to prevent violence against them, to ensure accountability, to bring to justice, and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies. The Resolution also calls upon States to promote a safe and enabling environment for journalists to perform their work independently and without undue interference.
Global commemorations of International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists serve as a unique opportunity to raise awareness on all forms of attacks targeting journalist around the world.
Nowadays, threats faced by journalists across the globe are rapidly changing and becoming increasingly complex as journalists are increasingly targeted on the basis of their reporting and can face attacks on a number of fronts.
One of these threats is clearly represented by Strategic lawsuits against public participation (or SLAPPs). At the recent European Anti-SLAPP Conference, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic stated that SLAPPs were one of the primary threats faced by European journalists.
SLAPP suits are a form of harassment increasingly used by powerful individuals and corporations to intimidate and discourage journalists from gathering and publishing information on public matters by drowning them down in lengthy and costly procedures. The strategy of using fully or partially unfounded lawsuits against journalists forces them to invest time, money, and energy into defending themselves in court. Threats can prevent reporting appearing at all, and they can deter others from looking into similar issues.
These threats not only affect the targeted journalists, but impact society as a whole as intimidation, denigration and violence against journalists has implications for freedom of expression, democratic norms and access to information at large.
The prevalence of SLAPP suits is a matter of serious concern in some EU Member States, as identified by the 2020 and 2021 European Commission Rule of Law Reports. In 2021, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) documented 439 alerts (with 778 persons or entities related to media being attacked) in 24 EU Member States, including SLAPPs. In more than 1 out of 5 of those incidents (22.1% – 97 alerts) media actors faced legal consequences.
A tragic example of the use of SLAPP is the journalist and anti-corruption activist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was facing more than 40 lawsuits at the time of her assassination in 2017, as she endured an onslaught of attacks aimed at silencing her and the reports of sleaze, corruption and criminality in government and business.
As recalled by the European Commission in April 2022, in the press release announcing the proposal for an EU Directive against SLAPPs, together with increasing threats to their safety, SLAPPs add to an environment where hostile activity against journalists is growing and can have a serious impact on their willingness and ability to continue their work.
Any attempt to end impunity against journalists must include a strategy to end threats and intimidation mediated through litigation.