IFJ affiliates support Egyptian journalists-led strike against deteriorating working conditions

Ten affiliates of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) convening in Tunis, Tunisia on 3 June sent a solidarity message to Egyptian journalists in support of their upcoming strike on 10 June to protest against deteriorating working conditions for the press.  IFJ affiliates from the Arab World convened in Tunis to attend a regional workshop on the "Right to Organise, Right to Bargain " organised by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in collaboration with the Tunisian journalists’ union (SNJT). Their solidarity message in support of their Egyptian colleagues ahead of their strike aims to denounce the fragile working conditions under which journalists are contracted in the country, the loss of jobs and arbitrary dismissal of journalists in the print media sector that put hundreds of journalists on the dole. The message also denounces the safety risks and litigation journalists face in the course of their duty.  “The deterioration of journalists’ working conditions in Egypt leave our colleagues in a situation of fear and insecurity that we cannot tolerate,” said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. “ We call on the Egyptian government to take its responsibility to ensure that journalists on the ground are offered the minimum working conditions that are set by internationally recognized core labor standards”.   In April this year, an Egyptian Supreme Administrative court’s ruled in favor of criminalising the right to strike. A decision that human rights defenders and the IFJ consider a violation of Egypt’s commitment to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and of the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, both texts allowing for the right to strike.  “The right to strike is a human right and IFJ affiliates are united in their determination to defend this right across the globe,” added Boumelha. “We call on the Egyptian government to ensure that the right to strike is upheld in the country in line with its Constitution.”   Read the ten IFJ affiliates’ statement in Arabic. 
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