Pan-African Conference on Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity kicks off with a call for safe and free environment for African journalists

 

 

(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)- A Pan-African conference on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity has opened yesterday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The two-day conference is organized by Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) in collaboration with the Directorate of Information and Communication (DIC) of the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).


Journalists’ leaders, governments’ representatives, UN officials, press freedom activists and African Union Commission’s officials as well trade unionists are meeting to discuss strategies aiming to move forward the campaign for the promotion of the safety of journalists and the end of impunity of crimes against media.

 

The opening session was addressed by FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communications and Information J?nis K?rkli?š, and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions professor Christof Heyns. The chairperson of African Union Commission Dr Jean Ping, IFJ President Jim Boumelha and ITUC-Africa General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwah also sent statements of support to the meeting.


In his address, FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman warned that African journalists still face high levels of violence and that the culture of impunity for such crimes fuels climate of fear which leads to self-censorship in media. “Safe journalism empowers journalists to perform at the highest potential of their skills and passion in delivering high quality information to the public,” said Osman.


“When journalist can act without fear, secure in their person and their profession, they are empowered to bring vital information to the people. They become agent of democracy and freedom,” he noted. “The impunity for violence against journalists deserves the equal attention to crime targeting governments’ officials and international civil servants in their official functions”.


The IFJ President praised in his message the achievements of African journalists under FAJ leadership in putting their safety on the political agenda on national and regional level. The successful advocacy which led to the adoption of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights of a resolution on the safety of journalists in 2011 was cited as a case in point. Mr Boumelha highlighted the work the IFJ has been conducting on the global level to raise awareness about the safety crisis in media, both in Africa and elsewhere in the world. These included lobbying international institutions such as the UN where the IFJ and FAJ delegations recently met the UN General Assembly President to urge drastic action on the promotion of journalists.

 

The IFJ President listed a number of actions the international community should take in this regard. They include the need for the UN Security Council Resolution to give more prominence by naming and shaming offending countries, an annual meeting under UN auspices with journalists and their organisation to discuss the safety and impunity, the consideration to be given to the use of media development aid and the link between the aid and safety of journalists as well as the need for donor countries to scrutinise the countries’ records on safety and impunity while deciding to grant aid.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Professor Christof Heyns underscored the importance of protecting journalists, describing their rights to safety as ‘meta right’.

“This is the right upon which the realisation of other rights depends,” said Professor Heyns. “The killing of a journalist is not just a crime against the victim but also a serious threat to all journalists who resort to self- censorship.”

The ITUC-Africa General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwah supported FAJ’s campaign for the safety of journalists who are operating, noting that this is in the interest of democracy.

“When a journalist is violently targeted and such attack is wilfully left un-investigated and perpetrators not prosecuted and sanctioned, impunity is established. And when such practices become the norm, impunity is entrenched. The growing culture of impunity with respect to attacks on journalists” said Kwasi Adu-Amankwah.


UNESCO Assistant Director-General for communication and Information J?nis K?rkli?š said that safe journalism in Africa is a main priority for his organisation which works closely with the Special Rapporteur of the African commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on freedom of expression and access to information and civil society in promoting media safety. He recalled that the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day was established by the Windhoek Declaration, twenty years ago. He added that Africa represents a strategic partner in the implementation of the UN plan of action on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity which was adopted by the UN Executives Board.

Officially opening the conference, Ambassador John Shinkaye, Chief of Staff in the Bureau of the Chairperson of the AUC, representing the AUC Chairperson H.E. Dr. Jean Ping, pointed out that Journalists and media workers in Africa are continued to be subject of most dangerous and violent attacks and said "policies must be developed and implemented to minimize the risks faced by journalists".

He noted that the role of governments in ensuring the safety of journalists is particularly important, as it will be up to the political will of African leaders to spell out the measures necessary to help protect journalists.


According to the Chairperson Ping’s speech,  “the African Union Commission has undertaken to enhance media freedom, capacity, knowledge, research and access to information in the continent a tangible and irreversible reality” he underlined that that the Commission is moving forward on its effort to build consultative mechanisms for sharing views, dialoguing and carrying free discussions on the media development at the African level.  


Later, in a meeting with a delegation from the conference, Dr. Ping reiterated his belief that Africa has made tremendous progress towards free flow of information. He hoped more will be achieved in the future if resources are available for training but urged journalists to change their mind set about Africa. The Chairperson, who is stepping down in this year, expressed his confidence that his successor, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma of South Africa will show the same commitment to the protection of safety of journalists. FAJ President Omar Faruk Osman thanked Dr. Ping for his support to the promotion of journalists’ safety under his tenure.


Journalists’ leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Tunisia and Somalia presented reports on the safety of journalists in their counties. The conference will agree an action plan leading to the adoption by the African Union of a binding resolution to ensure effective protection of the safety of journalists.


The Pan-African Conference on Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity is the second meeting on safety of journalists organized by the Federation of African Journalists in collaboration with the Directorate of Information and Communication of the African Union Commission. The first meeting was held on September 2010 at the AU headquarters in collaboration with the National Union of Journalists of Great Britain and the British Trades Union Congress (TUC). This conference, which is held ahead of UN conference on safety of journalists in Vienne in November 2012, is also a continental follow-up of the UN Inter-agency meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity that took place in September 2011 in Paris, France.

 

 

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The IFJ represents more than 600.000 journalists in 134 countries