The Globe International Center (GIC) hosted an online discussion on "Ensuring the Security of Journalists to Protect Freedom of Expression" on November 2 to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI). Around 30 stakeholders representing the media, media associations, and government counterparts participated in the online discussion. An event live-streamed on Facebook.

In the first part of the discussion, Gunjidmaa Gongor, Executive Director of Mongolian Media Council, highlighted that although Mongolian journalists are relatively safe, there are three common security concerns, which are psychological, physical and cyber. She proposed six issues to improve the legal environment for the media, including the creation of a legal environment to ensure the safety of journalists, and the capacity to investigate and prosecute crimes under the Articles 14.12 and 14.13 of the Criminal Code. Ulziibayar Sanjaajav, a journalist of Ugluunii Sonin or Morning Newspaper, in her report “Problems of Environmental Journalism and the Legal Environment” said that one of the problems faced by journalists writing in the field of environment was economic censorship for the media by a state-owned company. That company has tried to control over and censor the content of information of series of articles she had written. This issue has been brought to the attention of international human rights organizations by GIC including IFEX. According to Purevsuren Boldkhuyag, a lawyer at the GIC, “Be Safe, Not Safe,” the State Great Hural (Parliament) is required to increase legal guarantees to protect sources and ensure the safety of journalists. He cited the example of a TV journalist who was recently assaulted. In addition, a joint survey of journalists' safety in Mongolia by Media Council, GIC, and other organizations done in 2019 found that 67 percent of respondents had experienced intimidation, harassment, pressure, or insults in some way. Eighteen percent said they had been physically assaulted, while 36 percent said they had been harassed by law enforcement bodies.

The second or final part of the discussion focused on three issues. For example, journalists in Ulaanbaatar and local communities shared their experiences on issues related to the safety of journalists, including psychological security, in order to ensure their position and safety. For example, the speaker Ulziibayar said, “Journalists who write about large-scale bribery and corruption in the field of the environment are often subjected to a great deal of pressure on their psychological security. "Even though the journalist's body is not being attacked, there is a tendency to intimidate them in various ways, such as through newspapers and friends' channels." Among local representatives, Uchralbayar, a journalist from Dornod aimag, described a case of psychological intimidation in connection with a report on a fluorspar plant in Bayan-Uul soum, Dornod aimag. For example, she expressed regret that she could not document  phone threats to her family, with her husband’s job being treated.” Not all journalists who expressed their views directly threatened their safety, but they agreed that summonses to the police and the judiciary were common. Therefore, director Gunjidmaa called for “action to stop this, not to sit down and talk. As she explained, the morning meeting with a psychologist on cyber-attacks focused on how to ensure the safety of journalists and how to protect journalists from cyber-attacks. For example, R.Adiyasuren, the editor-in-chief of Gogo.mn, said that there were relatively few cases of cyber-threats against the site's staff, but that there were issues such as being sued by police and courts for publishing articles and information. In addition, the site staff takes steps to ensure the safety of its journalists, first by talking to its lawyer and then its editor or editor-in-chief rather than the journalist who wrote the article, meet law-enforcement organizations’ officials. Second, because the judiciary and the police do not accept audio evidence at the level of evidence, there is a practice to ensure the safety of journalists, such as advising them to use video rather than audio. G.Gunjidmaa emphasized that, “Women journalists are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Due to the high level of stigma and hacking against women, Media Council has recently been working to establish a “Club of Journalists Specializing in Gender and Human Rights”. "We have set up a group of journalists to address the issue of gender inequality in order to ensure gender equality and security," she noted.

Third, L.Galbaatar, a lawyer and researcher, commented on two issues during the discussion. First, the draft law on the protection of whistle-blowers recently presented by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs to the Parliament is aimed at protecting whistle-blowers on issues such as corruption and abuse of power, but the draft law needs to be improved. For example, it is important to include the participation of journalists in the draft law, as the draft law does not address the issue of ensuring the safety of journalists and whistling with their participation. Second, since a journalist is considered a human rights defender under the new Law of the Legal Status of Human Rights Defenders, a Human Rights Defenders Committee shall be established under the Human Rights Commission of Mongolia (NHRC). Journalists who have been physically or otherwise abused should seek support of the Human Rights Defenders Committee of the NHRC.

Since 2014, Globe International Center has been hosting multi-faceted events on November 2 each year to commemorate the IDEI. This year, we launched an social media campaign along with this online discussion with the support of the IFEX.