In a letter to AU leaders, the groups welcomed the designation of 2010 as the "Year of Peace and Security in Africa" and called for the issue of journalists' safety to be addressed.
(IFJ/IFEX) – 22 July 2010 – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and some 37 journalists’ unions and association are pressing government leaders attending the 15th African Union Summit in Kampala, Uganda, to make the safety of African journalists a priority for the African Union. In a letter to AU leaders, the unions, led by the IFJ African regional body the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), welcomed the declaration by African leaders to designate 2010 as the “Year of Peace and Security in Africa”.
“This timely declaration must be taken forward with practical, pragmatic and prompt actions,” they said. “It is a sad and incontrovertible fact that many decades after the achievement of political independence, so many Africans continue to lose their lives as a result of armed and non-armed conflicts, much of it driven by unscrupulous politics, intolerance and rivalries, whether based upon ethnic, religious or cultural divisions. The wanton violence suffered by African communities continues to be an obstacle to social progress and economic development.”
Addressing the safety and protection of African journalists, the journalists’ and media groups said “Among the many victims are African journalists who are routinely targeted, often injured, killed, displaced or mentally scarred. Their only crime is their defence of African peoples’ right to know, their determination to expose all forms of corruption and their conviction that everyone should enjoy the right to free expression.”
Last year, 13 African journalists were murdered in Africa, nine of them in Somalia. This year six journalists have already been murdered – three in Nigeria, one in Somalia, one in Rwanda and one in Angola. It will almost be inevitable that other journalists will continue to be the victims of grave human rights violations and fall to assassins’ bullets as they strive to carry out their legitimate job to inform their fellow citizens, whether by unravelling corruption or lawlessness, reporting civil insurgencies, or exposing drug trafficking.
In many cases, journalists find themselves in the firing line, facing not only death but also arrest and torture, which make journalism today one of the most perilous professions. There are also those killed in crossfire in the many armed conflicts in Africa. Most of these killings go unpunished and many of the perpetrators enjoy complete impunity.
Last March, the continental congress of the Federation of African Journalists held in Harare, Zimbabwe, adopted a strong resolution on safety of journalists and called for an end to the culture of impunity against media workers in Africa. A few months later, the delegates from over 100 countries assembled at the IFJ World Congress in Spain pledged solidarity with African colleagues and called on African governments to bring this safety crisis to an end.
“The loss of media lives should remind all African citizens of the sacrifices that journalists and media staff make in the cause of the right to know. Whatever the future brings, journalists will continue to strive to be the pillar of democracy, providing invaluable journalism as a public good often under difficult and dangerous conditions”, the joint letter said.
Journalists and media organizations concluded that “if the Year of Peace and Security is to have a lasting meaning, African leaders should do more to make journalism safer and bring to an end the injustice of impunity.”
Association des Journalistes de Guinée
Association des Journalistes Djiboutiens
Association des Journalistes du Burkina
Eastern Africa Journalists Association
Ethiopian National Journalists Union
Federation of African Journalists
Ghana Journalists Association
Inter Africa Network for women, Media, Gender Equity and Development
Kenya Correspondents Association
Media Workers’ Association of South Africa
National Syndicate Mozambican Journalists
National Union of Journalists -UK & Ireland
Nigeria Union of Journalists
Rwanda Journalists Union
Sierra Leone Association of Journalists
Sindicato dos Jornalistas Angolanos
Southern Africa Journalists Association
Sudan Journalists Union
Syndicat de Journalistes Mauritaniens
Syndicat des Agents de l’Information
Syndicat des journalistes et techniciens de la communication sociale
Syndicat des Professionnels de l’Information et de la Communication du Sénégal
Syndicat National de Presse Marocain
Syndicat National des Journalistes du Cameroun
Syndicat National des Journalistes Tunisiens
Syndicat National des Professionnels de la Presse
The Gambia Press Union
Uganda Journalists Union
Union Burundaise des Journalistes
Union des Professionels des Medias du Benin
Union Nationale de la Presse du Congo
Union nationale des journalistes de Côte d’Ivoire
West African Journalists Association
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists
