UNESCO and IPA offer an open online course on freedom of expression and the safety of journalists

UNESCO and the International Police Association (IPA) will offer a global Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for police officials and members of law enforcement agencies on freedom of expression and the safety of journalists.

This free, five-week online course will run from the weeks of 11 July until 18 August 2022. A summarized version of the online course will be available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

This course builds on UNESCO’s capacity-building initiatives for law enforcement officials, which have trained over 8,600 security forces from 20 countries on the freedom of expression and safety of journalists since 2017. This initiative is based on the training manual entitled Freedom of Expression and Public Order, aiming to enable security forces to be more cognizant of their legal obligations to protect media professionals and enhance professional working relationships between these two groups.

UNESCO invites all law enforcement institutions, public security agencies, police training academies, police officials, journalists, academia and lawyers from all countries and regions, who might benefit from this discussion by participating in this training course.

The intention is to mark a first step towards creating a global network of law enforcement and public security officials with strengthened capacities and awareness to promote and protect freedom of expression!