MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil launches observatory of violence against journalists

Minister Dino said the goal of the new agency was to facilitate dialogue with the Judiciary and other institutions

Brazil's Justice Minister Flávio Dino Tuesday announced the creation of the National Observatory of Violence against Journalists, Agencia Brasil reported. The observatory is to function within the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety and the idea stemmed from the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj).

 The observatory is to function within the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety and the idea stemmed from the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj).
“Welcoming the request of the journalists' union entities, we will install in the Ministry of Justice the National Observatory of Violence against Journalists, in order to dialogue with the Judiciary and other institutions of the justice system and public safety,” Dino said on social media.

Dino met Monday with Fenaj President Samira de Castro and with dignitaries from the Union of Professional Journalists of the Federal District and the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji).

The announcement came after at least 16 cases of aggression against communication professionals were reported during the Jan. 8 uprising in Brasilia, according to the Union of Professional Journalists of the DF.

“The objective of the observatory is to monitor the cases of attacks against the category, mobilizing the competent bodies to curb the aggressions and hold the aggressors accountable, in addition to following up the investigations of the crimes committed to identify and hold the authors accountable,” de Castro explained.

As per Fenaj's suggestion, the agency should be composed of representatives from the Ministries of Justice, Human Rights, and the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic, as well as representatives from the organized civil society, such as the federation itself, the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), Abraji, the entity representing professors and researchers of journalism, and employers' representatives, such as the National Association of Newspapers (ANJ) and the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (Abert).

Fenaj and other groups of Brazilian journalist unions have been trying to introduce such a mechanism at least since June 2013, Agencia Brasil said.

“Violence against the category reached record levels in the last four years and we witnessed an organized attack on the headquarters of the Three Branches of Power and on the press itself to finally be able to discuss this initiative,” de Castro also noted.

Another demand of the journalists' unions is the opening of an exclusive channel so that the professionals can denounce the cases of aggression suffered during the coup acts.

According to Communications Secretary Paulo Pimenta, the General Directorate of the Civil Police of the Federal District is to appoint a delegate to handle inquiries involving aggressions against journalists. The idea is to protect privacy in order to ensure safety so that press professionals can do their jobs without risking further reprisals. (Source: Agencia Brasil)