PART IV.  POLICING SITUATIONS GOOD PRACTICES FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FOR THE PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS In its publication Human Rights and Law Enforcement, A Manual on Human Rights Training for Law Enforcement Officials,a OHCHR notes the following good practices for law enforcement agencies for the protection of journalists when policing assemblies: • Conducting training to both media professionals and law enforcement officials to enhance the safety of journalists, including during protests. • Proactively engaging with journalists before, during and after the protests, including briefings where command officials explain how crowd control will be conducted and agree on a code of conduct and channels of communication. • Incorporating protection of journalists in protest situations in internal law enforcement regulations, planning and operational orders. • Establishing a safe area for journalists during protests where they will be given information and will be able to observe the event. • Using social media to inform journalists and the public of decisions and actions of the police, including if an event has been banned and participants have been asked to disperse. • Conducting effective, prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into suspected attacks against journalists. During investigations, any link between the suspected attack and the relevant journalist’s professional activities should be considered. Where the evidence requires, the person allegedly responsible for the attack must be prosecuted. • Publicly condemning attacks against journalists. • Ensuring protection mechanisms for journalists and/or their family members who have been threatened. Law enforcement officials should conduct risk assessments and as necessary initiate protective measures, including police protection. • Arranging press conferences and public debriefing events in the wake of any major violence in order to address public anxiety and concern, and explain how law enforcement officials follow up on the events. • Increasing transparency, including by inviting journalists to be a part of law enforcement trainings on policing protests and discussion events to exchange professional good practices. a OHCHR, Human Rights and Law Enforcement, A Manual on Human Rights Training for Law Enforcement Officials, 2017, chapter 9 (Human Rights and Policing of Public Assemblies and Protests). 7.5.  Accountability after the event Any use of force during the policing of assemblies should be documented in detail by the law enforcement officials and be reviewed by their supervisors. In some countries it is compulsory to organize a “post-event debriefing” for law enforcement officials with the involvement of assembly organizers after the assembly.281 Such reviews, however, should not replace independent judicial review mechanisms for the investigation and sanctioning of any allegations of human rights violations.282 All allegations should be investigated promptly, thoroughly, independently and impartially, and those who are See OSCE Monitoring Report 2013-2014, paras. 34-38. Joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on the proper management of assemblies, A/HRC/31/66, para. 94. 281  282  125