The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), the
African regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ), called on the legislative body of the African Union (AU), Pan-African
Parliament (PAP) to end injustice of impunity and protect safety of
journalists.
"As parliamentarians, you are readily expected by
the journalists' community in Africa to end the injustice of impunity for crimes
against journalists that has been rocking the continent and contributed to the lack
of safety for journalists," said Omar Faruk Osman, FAJ President, addressing
yesterday PAP's select committee on justice and human rights.
It was the first time since its establishment that
the PAP addressed the issue of freedom of expression and chose to make the
safety of journalist the main issue to address in their debate on the protection
of the right to freedom of expression and they invited FAJ to address the
parliamentarians.
"African journalists are facing dual safety
crisis, the physical safety and legal safety. Many countries have openly
resorted to cause danger to the physical and legal safety of journalists, to
name few are Eritrea, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon,
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Burundi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe," declared
Osman.
As body with legislative powers, FAJ strongly
urged the pan-African parliamentarians to adopt legislations and policies
protecting the safety of journalists in line with its objectives to "Promote
the principles of human rights and democracy in Africa" and "Promote peace,
security and stability".
"We will all agree that there will be no human
rights or right to free expression when heinous crimes are committed against
journalists with total impunity. Come on board, end criminalisation of
journalistic work, guarantee safety of journalists who facilitate and promote
free expression," FAJ President told the African parliamentarians.
FAJ raised serious concerns over plans in South
Africa to enact information secrecy law which will strip journalists off any legal
security to carry out their work just to cover politicians from public
scrutiny.
"The use of anti-terror laws, criminal codes and
criminalisation of defamation have shown the maximum punishment journalists face
for doing their work," said Osman who added that "Parliamentarians should urgently
work to reform these repressive and autocratic laws and end their use against
journalists".
The PAP is the legislative body of the African Union
established to provide a common platform for African peoples and their
grass-roots organisations to be more involved in discussions and
decision-making on the problems and challenges facing the continent. In this
regard, it has recently decided to carry out continent wide campaign
for freedom of expression with a view to adopting a continental framework
policy to protect safety of journalists.
For
more information contact the FAJ at +221 33 867 95 86/87
The FAJ represents over
50,000 journalists in 40 countries in Africa
