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The defence of all human rights depends on media freedom and pluralism. This makes it urgent to counter government restrictions and monopoly tendencies, says Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights on the eve of International human rights day (10 December). International organisations honour imprisoned journalists (179) worldwide.

According to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as many as 8-10,000 defamation cases a year had been filed against journalists and media outlets for defamation in Russia. Recent amendments to Russia’s defamation legislation – including partial decriminalisation of libel and insult – will not improve the situation for the media in the country, says Article 19.

Impunity kills independent investigative journalism, says Agnes Callamard, Executive Director, Article 19. According to her, the lack of successful investigations into the killings of journalists lays the foundation for self-censorship as a method of protection, thereby curtailing journalists from criticising the government through investigate stories tackling issues such as corruption and human rights violations.

The new media regulation law in Hungary is broad, uncertain and inconsistent with basic standards of media freedom, states the international partnership mission to Hungary. There is also a threat that media owners will discipline or sack journalists writing on controversial matters as they may attract complains and huge fines as a result.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), English PEN has produced ‘Beyond Bars’, a mobile exhibition highlighting ten of the most significant cases they have worked on since 1960.

Index on Censorship organises a panel debate on science and transparency to launch the science issue.

The trial against Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski on allegations of large scale concealment of income is part of a broader campaign to silence human rights defenders, says the joint statement of Article 19, Index on Censorship and English PEN.

A year on from the 2010 Nobel Prize Ceremony, English PEN, the founding centre of the international association of writers, are delighted to present two documentaries on last year’s Peace and Literature Prize winners – Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo and Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa – both of whom have a long history of working with PEN.

To mark the inaugural International Day to End Impunity on 23 November, join Index on Censorship and Article 19 in demanding justice for journalists’ murdered in the line of duty.