PEN CANADA

24 Ryerson Avenue, Suite 301

Toronto, Ontario M5T 2P3
416.703.8448 pencanada.ca

UNFCCC Secretariat
P.O. Box 260124
D-53153 Bonn, Germany

Via email: press@unfccc.int

October 5, 2016

Re: UNFCCC media accreditation for Rebel News Network

Dear Sir or Madam,

PEN Canada recently learned that the secretariat for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change has declined media accreditation to representatives of The Rebel News Network seeking to cover the
Climate Change Conference in Bab Ighli, Marrakech, Morocco from 7-18 November 2016.

According to PENs information, Rebel News Networks applications for accreditation of a reporter and producer
to attend the conference were refused on the grounds that advocacy media outlets do not qualify for
accreditation. (An application from a Rebel cameraman is also pending.)

The UNFCCC website provides no information that advocacy media cannot be granted accreditation, nor does it
specify just what that term means. The vagueness of the term advocacy media makes its application highly
discretionary in our view, and would encompass much of general news journalism. Opinion pages, special reports,
indeed advocacy journalism appears in many of the worlds great news sources, including The Guardian and The
New York Times. The UNFCCC website warns that the secretariat will enforce a quota for the maximum level of
participants in relation to the physical capacity of the conference and media facilities and will not process
applications once this quota, or the October 17 deadline for media accreditation applications, is reached. In light of
these time and number strictures, the refusal of accreditation without immediate reconsideration could unfairly
exclude the legitimate applications of Rebel News Network.

As an organization that upholds the right to freedom of expression set out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights,
PEN Canada urges the secretariat to reconsider its position with respect to advocacy media. We believe that the
real or perceived biases of a news agency lie beyond the scope of the secretariat and are irrelevant to the question
of whether a legitimately constituted news outlet is properly admitted to the Conference. Rebel employs more
than 20 journalists, including an accredited member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Canada. It should be
granted access to UN fora that will discuss and make decisions on matters of great Canadian and international
significance.

I thank you for your urgent attention to this matter. I look forward to receiving a reply to this email at your earliest
convenience.

Sincerely,

Grace Westcott
Executive Director, PEN Canada
gwestcott@pencanada.ca