Media21 Fellowship Programme on Human Rights

Geneva (Switzerland), 08-19 February, 2010

In collaboration with the UNOHCHR, OMCT, TRIAL and Human Rights Watch

The overall objective of Media21 Fellowship Programme is to enhance and deepen the understanding of human rights principles among journalists around the world.  Through this Programme journalists will be provided with relevant information, including human rights definitions, legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms, and with the necessary means to detect human rights violations and address relevant bodies for their necessary actions. Under international human rights treaties, States are responsible to protect but also to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. Therefore, journalists will learn how to utilize these tools to detect human rights abuses, report on actions taken by the Governments to hold abusers accountable and finally follow up on judicial cases to contribute in ending the impunity for human rights violations. Media21 will give special considerations to Journalists from countries where the impunity for human rights violation represents a major concern.

The human rights workshop coincides with the session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodical Review (UPR- www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.aspx). This allows journalists to cover not only the activities related to the UPR for the domestic media with a special interest in their own countries, but also to interact with global players active in the field of human rights . The workshop consists of briefings and  interactions with agencies such as the UN, NGOs , government and diplomatic missions.

The workshop is open to middle-career journalists. The working language is English. Journalists will be provided temporary accreditation to the UN while in Geneva. Media21 has so far organised close to ten human rights workshops in Geneva and strongly believes that the workshop represents an opportunity for journalists not only to take but also to give by sharing country specific information and experiences.  

Participating journalists will produce reports for their own media,  as well as contribute toward the production of a special issue of “On Assignment”, earlier called Human Rights Bulletin (see earlier bulletins on our website www.media21geneva.org). During this workshop, we anticipate the participation of journalists from Madagascar, Iran, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The fellowship programme offers journalists grants* which include tuition fees, flight ticket, accommodation and daily allowance, visa fees and insurance. The grant will not cover vaccination costs and travel to nearest international airport. 

The amount of the grant varies from CHF 5’000 to CHF 7’500 depending on travel costs and duration of the stay. Media21 welcomes journalists sponsored by their own organizations or other donors.

Programme Highlights

The journalists will benefit from daily briefings by UN officials, NGOs and journalists who will give them an overview on human rights practice worldwide. In addition, Media21 facilitates the interaction between the visiting journalists and their respective permanent missions. In the past, chiefs of permanent missions to the UN and ambassadors opened their doors to Media21 for a candid dialogue and this proved to be valuable in suggesting story ideas to visiting journalists.

The journalists will attend the UPR sessions and take part in press conferences and side events according to their interests. Senior journalists from Media21 conduct editorial meeting everyday to brainstorm on story ideas and on how to develop them.  During this brainstorming meeting, journalists are encouraged to share their ideas and experiences with the rest of the group.  

Media21 also helps them de-jargonise human rights treaties and points out various sources of information and contacts, relevant in their future work.  Each country’s dossier on human rights are prepared thoroughly, including relevant sources and contacts for future use. Media21 organizes and chairs panels during the workshop selecting panellists among the most experienced and knowledgeable human rights experts (with relevant experience in fighting impunity) from the Academy, Media, United Nations Agencies (OHCHR) and International Non-Governmental Organizations (TRIAL and HRW).

Some of the tentative panelists :

Yves Lador, Consultant to International Organisations

Joao Nataf, UN Office of High Commission for Human Rights

Philippe Dam, Human Rights Watch TBC

Eric Sottas, OMCT – World Organisation against torture

Philip Grant, TRIAL – Track Impunity Always

Sustainability of the Project

Following the workshop, journalists will be included in the Media21 network and will be part of a regular exchange of information on conferences, articles and any other relevant information on human rights. Journalists articles will be published on the Media21 website and follow up field visits could be arranged upon request to report on special human rights related issue.

About us

Media21 overall objective is to increase the good governance, democracy and accountability by empowering media and civil society. To this end, Media21 as Global Journalism Network trains local journalists on issues such as human rights, health, climate change, migration, peace and security and development aid. Media21 seeks to enhance media awareness and improve the independent reporting of the most pressing issues facing the planet.

Major donors

The workshops have been supported by Loterie Romande, Switzerland, Finland, Geneva (canton), United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA)

For more information, contact

Fabrice Boulé   Journalist, Training Manager   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Francesco Moschetta,  Human Rights Training This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it