The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) is welcoming eight new organisations into the network following a General Meeting in Brussels that brought together more than 100 activists in Brussels, Belgium, last week to discuss the state of free expression in the world and find ways to campaign effectively together to confront threats.

The organisations were voted into the network by the IFEX membership after presenting their applications at the Meeting. The meeting was hosted by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

The new members are:
- Arab Archives Institute (Jordan)
- Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo) (Egypt)
- Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (Liberia)
- Federation of Nepalese Journalists (Nepal)
- Globe International (Mongolia)
- IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET) (Turkey)
- Observatory for the Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation in Tunisia (Observatoire pour la liberté de presse, d'édition et de creation, OLPEC)
- South-East European Network for Professionalization of the Media (Romania)
With the new members, IFEX now links 72 free expression organisations around the world that use the network to share information, initiate joint actions and build campaigns to defend and promote the right to freedom of expression (see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/429/).

At the General Meeting, IFEX members issued six joint statements calling attention to free expression and press freedom violations in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia, Nepal and Somalia.

View the joint statements here:
- Azerbaijan: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72552
- Egypt: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72553
- Iraq: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16583
- Malaysia: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72593
- Nepal: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72555
- Somalia: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72551
For more information on the new members and on the IFEX General Meeting, contact: communique@ifex.org

Information on panel sessions held at the General Meeting is available here:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72406/