Jakarta, December 10, 2021 - Coinciding with World Human Rights Day 2021, the Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the TIFA Foundation today announced the five winners of the #EU4Journalists 2021 journalistic writing competition. The awards were given for the quality of their journalistic work on the theme of the competition: The Impact of Digital Technology on Human Rights.
The five winning works are:
- "Heroes for Victims of Online Sexual Bullying" (published November 28, 2021), by Gangsar Parikesit, from Koran Tempo
- "A Brilliant Health Technology Stick that Eases Mobility for People with Disabilities" (published November 27, 2021), by Huyogo Simbolon, from Liputan6.com
- "The twists and turns of technology and the fulfillment of human rights of students with disabilities" (published November 22, 2021), by Ilham Pratama Putra, from Medcom.id
- "Police Image in the Whirlpool of Hashtag War" (published October 30, 2021), by Kurnia Yunita Rahayu, from Kompas
- "Recognizing the Dilemma of Facial Recognition" (published November 5, 2021), by Satrio Pangarso Wisanggeni, from Kompas
EU Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr. Vincent Piket said, "The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the digital landscape, accelerating our digital transition. Digital technologies are becoming increasingly integral to our daily lives, offering extremely useful tools and solutions. But there are also downsides, and some technological applications raise concerns about their impact on human rights. Threats such as doxing and data falsification typically target vulnerable groups including human rights defenders, whistleblowers and even journalists."
"Journalists play a key role in highlighting social developments like this. The European Union hopes that the EU4Journalist Award will encourage and contribute to high-quality human rights journalism in Indonesia. Through EU4Wartawan, we also hope that journalistic work can raise public awareness and encourage us all to reflect on how we can mitigate the risks that digital technologies can pose to democracy and human rights," Ambassador Piket added.
M. Irham , a juror representing AJI Indonesia, said that digital technology can encourage the quality of journalism, diversity of content and expand public access to information. However, AJI sees a trend of how the internet has been used by certain parties to limit media independence and press freedom. "We hope that the journalists' writings can trigger parties to support press freedom in the digital realm, take action against cyber attacks, and ensure the fulfillment of human rights."
Endy Bayuni, Chairman of the TIFA Foundation Board said that it is important to protect digital rights in a balanced way, so that freedom of expression and the right to data privacy are protected, while public safety and economic growth are also maintained. "This can be fought for through a dialog and cooperation approach with various stakeholders in Indonesia, to be able to refer to international standards that are connected to the local context."
The panel of judges selected five winners from a total of 70 submissions from across Indonesia. The judges consisted of M. Irfan, Member of AJI's Data and Information Section; Mr. Endy Bayuni, Member of the TIFA Foundation Board; and Ms. Saiti Gusrini, Human Rights and Democracy Program Manager of the Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia.
The five EU4 Journalists winners will be eligible for online journalism professional training under the guidance of RNTC - an international training center managed by RNW Media and based in the Netherlands - in January 2022.
Media contact:
EU Delegation Press & Information Section
delegation-indonesia-info@eeas.europa.eu