13. Code of Conduct

Proposed: NUJ Great Britain and Ireland

The 24th IFJ Congress meeting in Seoul on June 11th to June 15th, 2001 congratulates the IFJ Executive Committee and the IFJ Projects Division for organising seminars and conferences bringing together journalists from countries in conflict and declares that pressure applied by governments and nationalist movements on journalists to produce "hate speech" copy is one of the most serious abuses of free journalism and the IFJ should do all it can to help journalists resist it.

Congress further considers that producing such copy is a grave breach of acceptable standards of journalism and should be declared to be so in the IFJ Code of Conduct.

It therefore instructs the Executive to give consideration to adding a clause to the following effect:

• "A journalist shall not knowingly produce or process material that is likely to endanger human life."
• Congress considers that such a clause would have wider applications than national conflict, covering for instance the naming of addresses of individuals known to be under threat of violence or death.

Congress is aware that altering the Code of Conduct is a serious matter that should not be undertaken lightly, and, consequently, instructs the Executive Committee to consult with affiliates on such a change, giving special weight to the response of those in regions of conflict, and to prepare a report, with a wording for a clause if it considers it appropriate, for Congress 2004.