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SEPTEMBER UPDATE
Welcome to the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s September update. In this newsletter, you’ll find highlights from across our work, as well as the latest opportunities for you to get involved. If you don’t regularly receive our newsletter, you can subscribe here.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's 2000 days of detention in Iran
On 23 September, we marked 2000 days since our friend and colleague Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was unlawfully and unjustly arrested for a crime she did not commit. Since then, she has suffered beyond comprehension; separated from family, isolated and imprisoned, denied representation or justice, and stripped of her freedom.
Our CEO, Antonio Zappulla, has written both to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, urging the British Government to scale up its efforts to free Nazanin.
Join us for Trust Conference 2021
From the need to build more inclusive and sustainable economies post-pandemic to attacks on media freedom and emerging digital rights risks, Trust Conference 2021 will tackle some of the most critical issues of our time.
Held virtually over two days, this November, Trust Conference will host more than 20 live keynotes, insight sessions, panel discussions and fireside chats for the exchange of global expertise, frontline experience and extraordinary insights.
Conversion therapy thrives globally as bans gather pace
From injections to electric shocks, LGBT+ conversion therapy is rife around the world. To shine a light on this issue, Openly - our digital platform delivering fair, accurate and impartial LGBT+ news - published an investigation into the human impact and the lack of legislative bans of these practices, designed to try and change or suppress the sexual desire or gender identity of LGBT+ people.
Our research reveals that bans on forms of conversion therapy have been proposed in at least 13 countries, with bills working their way through seven parliaments in countries such as New Zealand, Canada and Spain. Yet widespread discrimination against LGBT+ people continues to fuel this practice worldwide. Openly has spoken with people around the world who have been directly affected - and to the practitioners themselves - to give a unique view of countries’ differing attitudes towards conversion therapy.
Highlights from across our focus areas:
Inclusive Economies:
Social Enterprise, ESG, and Impact Investing. Join us on 26-28 October for our annual Social Enterprise, ESG, and Impact Investing Training in the United States. Held online, the training is a first-of-its-kind course to combine hands-on legal training with practical case studies and excellent networking opportunities. This year’s edition features an expanded curriculum across three themes: Structuring Business for Impact; ESG: Compliance, Disclosure, and Beyond; and Impact Investing.
Is Bitcoin a Game-Changer for Migrant Workers? Bitcoin has been adopted as an official currency by El Salvador, a move that could help Salvadorans abroad send money back home. With migrants around the world losing billions of dollars every year through remittance fees on traditional money transfers, could cryptocurrency be a new way forward?
SOCAP Virtual: Busting Myths about the ‘S’ Dimension in ESG. Join us on 19 October at SOCAP Virtual for a discussion on the social aspect of ESG (the ‘S’), and its importance to investors and the public. This session will bring together leaders in the human rights and investment spaces to discuss concrete resources for investors to ensure a broad and impactful adoption of ‘S’ criteria, moderated by Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz, Director of TrustLaw, our global pro bono service.
Human Rights:
Decriminalising Suicide: Saving Lives, Reducing Stigma.
TrustLaw, together with United for Global Mental Health, has launched a legal report on the decriminalisation of suicide and legal barriers stopping people from seeking mental health support. In recent years many countries have made progress in their efforts to reduce the rate of death by suicide. But suicide still remains a criminal offence in 20 countries, with some laws dating as far back as 160 years ago.
Ending Child Marriage in New York. Unchained at Last, an NGO dedicated to fighting child marriage in the US, is celebrating the ban on child marriage in New York which came into force this summer. Four years ago, our pro bono service, TrustLaw, facilitated free legal support by connecting the organisation to White & Case LLP, which has since provided them with legal advice to advocate for ending child marriage across 50 states.
Media Freedom:
Solutions Journalism: What Reporters Can Do to Beat ‘Negative News Fatigue’. Kavita Chandran, a Consultant and Journalism Trainer at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, discusses how a solutions-based approach to journalism - which focuses on responses to social issues and is now part of several training programmes that we provide to journalists around the world - offers an array of benefits to both readers and reporters.
Journalism Training Opportunity: Reporting on Illicit Finance in Africa. From 25 October - 12 November, we're running an online training programme to better equip English-speaking journalists in Africa to cover illicit financial flows. Apply before 27 September.
Attend: Reuters IMPACT Virtual Global Conference - Mobilising global business to deliver on climate action
Read: Anti-Slavery International and Institute for Environment and Development Report - Climate-induced migration and modern slavery
- Head of Video, London
- Digital Rights and Data Equity Specialist, Nairobi
- Legal Programme Manager, North America & Caribbean, New York
- Engagement Coordinator, Media Freedom, London
- Project Manager, Media Development, Nairobi
- Project Coordinator, Nairobi
- Senior Legal Officer, TrustLaw, Nairobi
- Portal Project Coordinator, TrustLaw, London
We are the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. We work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights.
