CEJIL and FLIP receive Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression Prize for Excellence in Legal Service for our work on the case of journalist Jineth Bedoya v. Colombia

This prize recognizes Excellence in Legal Services for our collaborative work for more than a decade defending freedom of expression in journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima’s case. 

Bogotá – Washington D.C., March 1, 2022.  Columbia University presented its Global Freedom of Expression Prize 2022, recognizing the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) with the Global Freedom of Expression Prize for Excellence in Legal Service, for our work and strategic collaboration in the case of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima. 

The Global Freedom of Expression Prize for Excellence in Legal Service is the first award recognizing legal services that strengthen freedom of expression.  Some of the criteria considered when choosing the winners include having generated a significant impact on freedom of expression and information, sound legal reasoning, and having advanced the legal understanding of freedom of expression issues. 

In addition, the award in the legal services category takes into account a reputation for integrity and a commitment to human rights, the rule of law, and legal excellence.

“Receiving this award today, from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, fills us with strength to continue doing the work we do: defending rights to change realities,” said Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of CEJIL, during the award ceremony.  CEJIL also shared the recognition with Jineth Bedoya Lima “who is a vital force, a role model and a phenomenal journalist”.

In retaliation for her journalistic work in Colombia, on May 25, 2000, Jineth Bedoya Lima was kidnapped, raped and tortured, following several uninvestigated threats. Subsequently, the investigation of these events has remained in impunity and characterized by gender stereotypes and discrimination for more than two decades. 

CEJIL and FLIP worked together for a decade to achieve justice in Jineth’s case. The two organizations represented the case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IA Court), achieving a landmark ruling in October 2021. The judgment analyzed, for the first time, the use of sexual violence as a form of silencing and control against a woman journalist in the context of the Colombian armed conflict.

The ruling in Jineth Bedoya Lima’s case is emblematic for freedom of expression and gender justice. The IA Court’s decision set important guidelines for States on how to protect women journalists, how to create safe spaces for women journalists, how to combat impunity and, especially, how to provide reparations to the victims.

“We are convinced that through strategic litigation we will be able to achieve justice not only for the victims of the cases we represent, but also for the thousands of journalists who take to the streets every day to investigate. We are generating changes so that the free exercise of the press is guaranteed, and so that citizens can have access to quality information about what is happening around them,” said Jonathan Bock, Executive Director of FLIP, upon receiving the award.