7 Amendments of Birgit SIPPEL related to 2021/2036(INI)
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are lawsuits or other legal actions (e.g. injunctions, asset-freezing) based on civil and criminal law, as well as the threats of such actions, with the purpose of preventing public participation including investigating and reporting on breaches of Union and national law, corruption or other fraudulent practices or of blocking public participation and activism including by violating civil liberties such as freedom of association, assembly and freedom of expression and of information thus resulting in lessening societal resilience against authoritarian pushback against democracy and rule of law;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas SLAPPs have become an increasingly widespread practice used against journalists, academicmedia organisations, academics, watchdogs, human rights defenders, whistle blowers, civil society and NGOs, as demonstrated by many cases throughout the Union, such as the chilling case of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was reportedly facing 47 civil and criminal defamation lawsuits, (resulting in the freezing of her assets) on the day of her strongly condemned assassination on 16 October 2017, and the lawsuits her heirs continue to face; whereas other illustrative and alarming cases include Realtid Media, which was repeatedly threatened with a lawsuit in a different jurisdiction from where the reporting in question took place, and Gazeta Wyborcza, which continues to be sued by a number of public entities and officials on a regular basis, the Slovenian investigative news outlet Necenzurirano recently hit by a barrage of 39 lawsuits and continuous lawsuits against defenders of women's rights in Poland;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas SLAPPs within the Union are often cross-border in nature, which results in reporting delays as illustrated in many cases, often relating to cases of environmental protection, financial fraud and/or corruption, where they constitute a clear attempt to delay publication of information by halting or discrediting the work of individual journalists and publishing entities, hence depriving citizens of their right to information; whereas SLAPPs and SLAPP threats may be brought within the Union also by actors in third countries and before courts in third countries;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
D b. whereas SLAPP suits can be issued by private entities and public actors including state-owned companies thus becoming a tool of exerting political power; whereas in the case of public authorship of SLAPPs the damage borne by SLAPP victims can be even greater;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Highlights that SLAPPs are a direct attack on the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms; underlines that fundamental rights and democracy are linked to upholding the rule of law, and that undermining freedom of expression, media freedom and public democratic participation threatens– including freedom of expression, media freedom and rights to peaceful assembly and association and on Union values as enshrined in Article 2 of the TEU; welcomes the fact that the 2020 rule of law report includes SLAPP lawsuits in its assessment of media freedom and pluralism across the Union, and points to best practices in countering them; calls for the 2021 annual and subsequent reports to include a thorough assessment of the legal environment for the media, and investigative journalism in particular, and to look more thoroughly at challenges affecting civil society, including as regards SLAPPs targeting NGOs, activists and rights defenders;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights that in recent years online hate speech has become increasingly widespread against journalists, media organisations, NGOs, academics and civil society, including those defending fundamental rights and freedoms, such as, inter alia, women's rights and LGBTQI rights, thus threatening media freedom, freedom of expression and public safety given that online hate speech can incite real-world violence;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Urges the Commission to present a proposal for measures to ensure that defamation, libel and slander, which constitute criminal offences in most Member States, cannot be used for SLAPPs, including through through public or private prosecution; underljoines the calls of the Council of Europe and OSCE for the decriminalisation of defamation; invites the Commission to address the question of the seriousness of threats of SLAPPs in a legislative proposal; notes that defendants often face criminal charges while at the same time being sued for civil liability allegedly arising from the same conduct;