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ADVISORY NOTICE: Reporting on Prisoners of War (POW) in Ukraine-Russia Conflict
Friday, 11 March 2022
Given the sensitive and evolving situation, IMPRESS reminds you of your obligations under our Standards Code, in particular clause 7 – Privacy (except where justified by the public interest, publishers must respect people’s reasonable expectation of privacy), with respect to images of any POWs published or broadcast. For example, publishers may choose to pixelate such images so that individuals cannot be identified. A failure to respect this Advisory Notice may be taken into account in any subsequent investigation or adjudication by IMPRESS.
Please also note Article 13 of the Geneva Convention applies to the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine and requires POW to be protected ‘against insults and public curiosity’.
Further resources supplied from the UK Government and British Red Cross are available for the media (Appendix 1).
If you have any questions about this Advisory Notice or any other issue relating to compliance with our Standards Code or governance requirements, please do not hesitate to contact IMPRESS.
The IMPRESS Team
020 3325 4288
Appendix 1
- The MOD Green Book, which includes working arrangements with media organisations (JSP 580) at paragraph number 70. A copy can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-green-book
- The BRC IHL publications for media professionals also contain reference to the UK/BRC agreed interpretation on protecting prisoners of war and civilian internees against insults and public curiosity. The short field guide and the handbook can be accessed here: https://www.redcross.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/protecting-people-in-armed-conflict/geneva-conventions. Please see page 43 of the field guide and page 104 of the handbook, among other references