The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on the African Union and the European Union to challenge African States to improve press freedom laws and working conditions for journalists on the continent after the two institutions recently signed a joint plan on media and development.
"This is a laudable initiative in view of the worrying state of the media in Africa," said Gabriel Baglo, director of the IFJ Africa office. "The large majority of journalists on the continent are poorly paid, some suffer violence on a daily basis and others are unfairly forced to exile, imprisoned or are harassed."
The chairman of the Commission of the African Union (AU) Jean Ping and the commissioner of the European Union (EU) Louis Michel signed a joint roadmap to promote the emergence of "free and incontrovertible media to build fair and impartial states" in Africa on 13 September 2008 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
The plan includes establishing the institutional framework to codify the rights and duties of the media and to protect media independence and freedom of expression.
The agreement also urges a "guarantee to journalists' access to information, confidentiality of their sources and legal protection to allow them to do their professional work in an independent and impartial way."
"The implementation of this roadmap requires sincere and sustainable involvement of African states. That's why we call on the AU and the EU to challenge them throughout the process," Baglo said.
Hundreds of journalists, editors, media support organisations and academics participated in the meeting in Ouagadougou, a forum on Media and Development held from 11-13 September 2008.
Article published courtesy of IFJ
