23 May 2013

IFJ Calls for Conciliation as Newspaper’s Distribution is Blocked in Nepal

Media Release: Nepal

May 23, 2013

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

joins its affiliate, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), in expressing

concern over incidents within the daily newspaper Rajdhani, which led to the distribution of the May 19 edition being

blocked.

Workers have since been staging a sit-in protest

outside the newspaper office in the Kupondole area of Kathmandu.

Reports from IFJ sources indicate that the employees

of Rajdhani on May 19 put forward a five-point charter of demands including the

regularisation of staff who had put in more than 240 days of service and the

implementation of relevant laws on minimum wages. Soon afterwards, they seized

all copies of the newspaper that were being readied for distribution in the

Kathmandu valley.

“We are disturbed by this sequence of events and call

on both sides to settle all issues that stand between them in a spirit of

fairness and mutual accommodation”, said the IFJ Asia Pacific.

The IFJ supports the FNJ call that the production and

distribution of the newspaper be resumed, so that an environment is created for

talks which could address all issues of concern.

For further

information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0950

The IFJ

represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

Find

the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific

Find