San Jose, Costa Rica, December 21, 2022.-The Dialoga Network of human rights journalists in Latin America and the Caribbean, with support from the UNESCO Communication and Information Program, held several exchange and training events with journalists from various countries in the region during the year 2022.
Each meeting featured a workshop on the Case Law of the Inter-American Court on matters of interest for current events in each country and a workshop on the operation of the Court. The workshops also offered opportunities for journalists of the different countries to engage in dialog with each other and with the inter-American Court, geared toward developing topics of interest to all and toward facilitating dissemination of the Court’s work.
Reporters were able to attend in-person meetings with the President of the Court and one other Judge in Uruguay, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaraguan journalists based in Costa Rica, the region of Central America and Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay and the United States.
These gatherings proved to be an excellent opportunity for the Inter-American Court to have direct contact with journalists and to foster greater public information concerning several different themes developed in its case law, such as serious human rights violations, freedom of expression, violence against women, migrants, discrimination for sexual orientation, indigenous communities, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, reparations in human rights cases, and more.
“This is an Open-Door Court, and we want to enjoy direct dialog with reporters from all over the region so they can learn about our Case Law and use it to defend the right to freedom of expression and safety for journalists and become mouthpieces for the work in the Inter-American Court in all the countries, explained Court President Judge Ricardo C. Pérez Manrique.
“Over the course of 2021 and 2022, we have held 16 meetings with journalists, and in 2023, we will continue to build bridges of discussion with people of the press from the entire region covered by the Dialoga Network,” added Pérez Manrique.
Over 3,000 journalists took part in the 2022 meetings, some online, and others in person.
These activities are only one of the many events that the Dialoga Network is developing together with journalists from all over the region. The Human Rights Diploma Course for Journalists has now been held five times, and the sixth and seventh are on the agenda for 2023, along with a special course in English for reporters in the countries of the Caribbean. Journalists have also had access to online lectures and targeted webinars with the Judges of the Court on a variety of topics pertinent to the work of the Court. Journalists who are members of the Dialoga Network have also posted news reports on the Network blog about the case law of the Inter-American Court on the Network blog. Several reporters have been selected to receive the Court’s scholarship on investigative journalism and the KAS Foundation’s Program on the Rule of Law for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Below is a selection of pictures from the meetings in various countries:
United States – December 6, 2022
Paraguay – November 29, 2022
Guatemala – November 18, 2022
Publicity on meetings for the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
Mar del Plata, Argentina – September 17, 2022
Montevideo, Uruguay – June 15, 2022
Trinidad and Tobago – September 21, 2022
Santiago, Chile – September 27, 2022
Lima, Peru – October 6, 2022
Online forum with Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador February 22, 2022
Meeting with Costa Rican and Nicaraguan journalists, November 11, 2022
Meeting with journalists from Central America, Colombia, and Mexico, November 24, 2022
(46 restantes)