Right here, now
June 22, 2011
This year's fourth annual Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum came at a critical moment in the reshaping of global human rights, when the future of many parts of the world remained uncertain.
"We must forge a global alliance for human rights," urged DW Director-General Erik Bettermann in an address at the end of the three-day international conference in Bonn.
Addressing delegate journalists from some 100 nations, Bettermann said the media must starting paying more attention to the subject - and that did not just apply to Africa and the Middle East.
Europe, he said, also needed to "shed its blinkers, and must not think first of others when it comes to human rights. Respect for human rights and their implementation always has to start at home."
Bettermann said the media must strive to fulfill their responsibilities in safeguarding human rights across the globe.
"Without human rights there can be no civil society. Without them there can be no legal security, no economic prosperity. It's up to the media to get that message across."
Bettermann added in his conclusion that the Forum's 1,600 international participants made the conference "a mirror of human rights experiences around the world."
New media and human rights
Human trafficking, free online speech and Latin American drug wars were some of the many topics touched on at the Global Media Forum's more than 50 conferences and workshops.
Workshops offered the participating journalists a chance to discuss, for instance, how they could report on human rights issues without infringing on victims' rights.
Another topic that came up throughout the discussions was the role of online media, particularly social networking websites.
Participant Thomas Deve of Zimbabwe felt that social media provided an important tool to bring people together.
"Finally, they can express their thoughts on the relationship between state and society," said Deve, who coordinates the United Nations' Millennium Campaign for southern Africa.
However, Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, winner of Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs Award, distanced herself from claims that this year's coups and upheaval in North Africa were a "Facebook revolution."
"It's a revolution of the people, a revolution of dignity. In Tunisia it didn't start with the Internet but in the streets. The Internet was a tool," she said.
Next year's topic: education
The Global Media Forum will continue its focus on human rights next year: In July 2012 the topic for the fifth Forum will be the right to education.
In terms of media attention to human rights, Portugal's Julia Galvao Alvinho believes this Forum was the beginning of an important new trend.
She said it was important to her to see "human rights moving back into focus. What we observed in the past decade was that the media had gotten away from the human rights agenda. This Forum put them back in the spotlight."
Author: Matthias von Hein / dl
Editor: Susan Houlton