A/HRC/44/52 3. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe 83. Regional organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have also taken initiatives. In order to address the increasing number of online attacks against journalists and bloggers, in 2015 the OSCE Representative on freedom of the media launched a project on the safety of female journalists online (#SOFJO), which included a full-length documentary, entitled A Dark Place, to highlight the experiences of female journalists who have been affected by online harassment. 40 In 2016, the Office of the Representative on freedom of the media commissioned a report on countering online abuse of female journalists. 41 4. Inter-American system for the protection of human rights 84. Within the inter-American system for the protection of human rights, article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights recognizes the right of every person to exercise freedom of expression and generates positive obligations for States to protect journalists who are at special risk of being victims of violence and to investigate the facts with due diligence. 85. Furthermore, article 7 (b) of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belém do Pará Convention) provides that States parties condemn all forms of violence against women and agree to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, policies in order to prevent, punish and eradicate such violence and undertake to apply due diligence to prevent, investigate and impose penalties for violence against women. 86. In June 2017, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States adopted resolution 2908 (XLVII-O/17) on the right to freedom of thought and expression and the safety of journalists and media workers, in which it reaffirmed that journalism must be practised free from threats, physical or psychological aggression, or other acts of intimidation. In the resolution the Assembly expressed concern “for the particular risks faced by women who practice journalism, who are also victims of discrimination, harassment and sexual violence, even on the Internet” and urged member States to implement strategies to end impunity for crimes against journalists and share good practices, and recommended that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression continue with their activities concerning the safety of journalists. C. Protection of journalists at the international level: examples of good practices 87. The issue of the safety of journalists is raised in the context of the universal periodic review. In their specific recommendations, States have recommended, inter alia, the release of journalists held for exercising their freedom of expression; the removal of libel and defamation as criminal offences; the investigation and prosecution of all allegations of the torture and ill-treatment of journalists; and the modification of legislation to repeal criminal responsibility for exercising freedom of expression, particularly online, and to protect journalists from harassment (A/74/314, para. 22). 88. The United Nations treaty bodies have also raised concerns and made recommendations about the safety of journalists in their concluding observations on State party reports. For example, the Human Rights Committee has expressed concern regarding reports that journalists are subjected to intimidation, harassment and ill-treatment as a result of the exercise of their profession (CCPR/C/MDG/CO/4, para. 49). The Committee against Torture has similarly expressed deep concern about reports of journalists being subjected to threats, intimidation, harassment, surveillance, arbitrary detention, forced disappearance 40 41 16 See www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/405026. OSCE Representative on freedom of the media, “New challenges to freedom of expression: countering online abuse of female journalists” (2016).