23. This situation is associated with harmful gender stereotypes as
indicated in the expert report by Juan Méndez: "Women journalists
and human rights defenders face different types of differentiated risks
due to the dynamics of discrimination and gender stereotypes.
Women human rights defenders and journalists are particularly at risk
of being threatened because of their reporting. Due to their visibility,
there are attempts to silence them and targeted attacks aimed at
discouraging broader dissent.”
24. Before addressing the reparation measures in relation to the
protection of the right to freedom of expression of women journalists,
I end this chapter with what Ms. Bedoya indicated regarding the
exercise of her profession: “Journalism has been my lifeline in every
way, but doing it under the conditions in which I have had to do it is
humiliating and re-victimizing because I have to devise a thousand
ways to be able to document, to be able to investigate, to be able to
plumb the depths of Colombia, which is where I do my investigations
and where I do my reporting. To continue risking my life, but above
all to continue subjecting my mother to that anguish—that her
daughter leaves home one morning to do her journalism and at night
she may not return."
Jineth Bedoya was investigating the facts of the case and continued
to do so, cases that involved, as she has said, corruption, drug
trafficking, organized crime, and cooperation and complicity between
State authorities, paramilitaries, and criminal groups. Also, the
guerrilla groups. For this reason, her voice was bothersome, and
attempts were made to silence her without success using threats,
kidnapping, rape, and all manner of intimidation.
V.
DUTIES
OF
THE
STATE
REGARDING
WOMEN
JOURNALISTS: COMPREHENSIVE MEASURES OF REPARATION
25. “Reviewing the work that we women communicators do
from a gender perspective would be a crucial step forward for
this hemisphere,” Ms. Bedoya said in her statement at the hearing.
26. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that
States are required to “put into practice an effective system of
protection for authors and journalists” as part of the obligation to
establish an environment that fosters public debate and facilitates the
7
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