The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today sent its condolences to the
family and colleagues of Hans Verploeg who passed away on 25 May after a
serious illness.
Hans
was General Secretary of the Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten(NVJ), an
IFJ affiliate and served as Honorary Treasurer of the IFJ until 2001.
″The
death of our colleague Hans is a tragedy for his family and the journalists
community,″ said Aidan White, IFJ General
Secretary. ″Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.″
Hans
was 65 years old and spent 25 years in journalism with the NVJ which he left
five years ago. He took up the position of chairman of Free Voice and helped
create another organisation called Press Now. He combined these
responsibilities with other commitments to promote press freedom.
Since
joining the IFJ, he served on the Executive Committee where he passionately championed
the interests of journalists and the cause of press freedom. He took particular
interest in the safety of journalists, leading the efforts to raise funds for
humanitarian assistance to journalists and media staff in need around the
world.
For more information
contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 22 07
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists
in 125 countries worldwide
