On 6 July 2020, Amal Clooney, Co-Founder and Co-President of the Clooney Foundation for Justice and Deputy Chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom released a joint statement with Panel Chair, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, in response to the implementation of the UK global human rights sanctions regime. The full statement can be found here.
The High Level Panel is an independent body convened at the request of the United Kingdom and Canadian governments to advise governments on ways to prevent and reverse abuses of media freedom, as well as ensuring existing international obligations relating to freedom of expression are upheld. The High Level Panel is comprised of a diverse group of leading lawyers from around the world. The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute acts as Secretariat to the Panel.
The statement follows a report published by the Panel in February 2020, titled The Use of Sanctions to Protect Journalists.