The role of the media is often underestimated in the context of development efforts. In reality it is especially the media who can generate broad public awareness, controls and checks governmental actions and asks for accountability.

The protection and promotion of human rights is an important factor for democratic, economic and cultural development. Free media as a “fourth power” takes on watchdog functions and tracks down illegal state actions in those countries where the political environment allows it.

It is most often the media who make human rights violations public and emphasize the state’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. Mostly infringements on civil and political human rights, such as discrimination or the freedom of assembly, are critically addressed by the media. However, the media increasingly also makes public major challenges with regard to economic, social and cultural human rights, such as related to the right to education, the right to health or the right to food.

But how can the cooperation between the media and actors in the development field be improved? What are the challenges we are confronted with? What kind of preconditions have to be fulfilled to ensure that media professionals are able to execute the described tasks and to promote the realization of human rights? These are some of the questions that will be discussed during the workshop.

Moderation:
Conny Czymoch
Journalist

Panelists:
Kurt Gerhardt
Journalist/Development Expert

Hauke Hartmann
Senior Project Manager at the Bertelsmann Stiftung

Astrid Kohl
Head of the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ) of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

Jochen von Bernstorff
Consultant for UN Human Rights Protection, Spokesperson for the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg