Respect rights of journalists — UN

The United Nations (UN) has marked the first ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ with a call on society to respect the rights of journalists.

The UN notes that without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, effective and active citizenry was impossible.

The Country Director of UNESCO, Mr Tirso Dos Santos, made the call at a forum it organised in partnership with the UN Information Centre, in Accra yesterday, to mark the event.

The day, which was instituted at the 68th Session of the UN in December, 2013, was aimed at commemorating the courage of journalists across the world and create awareness of crimes committed against them.

The event is to be marked on November 2 every year. This year’s was on the theme “The state of journalists’ safety in Ghana”.

Explaining the rationale for choosing November 2 as the international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists, Mr Santos said the day was to celebrate two French journalists on assignment in Mali, who were abducted by gunmen and assassinated on November 2, 2013.

Crimes against journalists

Mr Santos said in the past decade, more than 700 journalists had been killed and a lot more had been assaulted in various parts of the world.

He said protection for media personnel must not cover only mainstream journalists but also cameramen, newscasters, bloggers, among others, who worked to ensure that information was brought to the door steps of people.

Journalists’ safety in Ghana

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Mr Sulemana Braimah, in a presentation on “the state of journalists’ safety in Ghana,” said the security agencies were the worst culprits of crimes against journalists in the country.

He said the second offenders of crime against journalists were political party affiliates followed by individuals and then state officials.

Mr Braimah indicated that even though Ghana had been ranked among the free press countries, there continued to be cases of assault on journalists, adding that 138 cases of violations against journalists were recorded from 2005 to 2013. They included murder, physical attacks, threat, arrest, detention, censorship, sentencing, fines and court actions.

He said even though 2014 had not ended, 14 cases of assaults on journalists had been recorded.

Mr Braimah called on UN Agencies in Ghana, government and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to help build the capacities of journalists on safety precautions and practices, as well as create mechanisms to monitor and report on the safety of journalists.

The media were also entreated to execute their duties diligently and refrain from acts such as partisanship.

The Deputy Minister of Culture, Tourism and Creative Arts, Mrs Dzifa Gomashie, who chaired the forum, called on journalists to be circumspect in their reportage, stressing that “as we go about our duty, the small and big decisions can make our country stronger or bring it down”.

A representative of the National Media Commission, Mr Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, called for training manuals to be developed to help protect the rights of journalists in the country.