African Governments Have the Duty to Guarantee the Safety of Journalists, FAJ says

 

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the African regional group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) declared today that African Governments have the duty to guarantee the safety of journalists.

 

Attending the 19th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), the delegation of FAJ has intensified the campaign for the adoption of a binding resolution on the safety and protection of journalists in Africa.

 

The FAJ delegation is made up of the President, Omar Faruk Osman, the Vice President Foster Dongozi, and the Africa Director for the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Gabriel Baglo. They represent journalists’ unions and associations on the Africa to engage the Heads of State and Government.

 

“We have been actively lobbying African Union member states, the African Union Commission and other strategic partners for the adoption of a resolution on the safety and protection of African journalists at the ongoing 19th African Union Summit,” said FAJ President, Omar Faruk Osman who is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

“The safety of journalists is a more pertinent subject today than ever before; the number of journalists killed, assaulted and intimidated has been increasing year after year in the continent,” he added.

 

“Many African journalists are assaulted or killed in the course of their work. African leaders must adopt binding resolution on the safety and protection of African journalists”, said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Office Director who is also currently in Addis Ababa.

 

Osman stated that FAJ would use its networking and advocacy programme to make gains in coming up with a binding resolution on the safety and protection of African journalists.

 

"The objective of our participation at the AU summit is also to work with the member states, AU Commission, Peace and Security Council and Permanent Representatives on the issue of the safety and security of African journalists, particularly the adoption of a legally binding resolution on the need to protect African journalists when conducting their work," he explained.

 

In addition, the delegation engaged members of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), whose mandate is to promote and protect human and people's rights on the African continent as enshrined in the African Charter. In May 2011, the ACHPR adopted a resolution on the safety and protection of journalists, which has already been endorsed by the AU.

 

In 2006, the United Nations Security Council adopted the Resolution 1738, which condemns attacks against journalists in conflict situations while UNESCO has a Resolution condemning violence against journalists.

 

 

In September 2010, FAJ launched in collaboration with the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa a campaign for African leaders to lend their support to the campaign on the safety and protection of African journalists.  .

 

The lobbying and advocacy work is being done ahead of a planned Pan-African Conference on the safety of journalists and the campaign against impunity to be held in September 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Over the last three years, Somalia has been the deadliest country for journalists to work in with 34 journalists having been assassinated. Since the beginning of this year, six Somali journalists have already been killed while one journalist was killed in Nigeria.

 

 

 For more information contact the IFJ: 221 33 867 95 86/87

The IFJ represents more than 600.000 journalists in 134 countries