International Federation of Journalists
Press release
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) Steering Committee held
its first official meeting under the new executive elected during the
last March Congress in Casablanca (Morocco).
The meeting was hosted in Abuja, Nigeria, on 28 September 2013 by the
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). It was chaired by the FAJ
President, Mohammed Garba, who at the opening addressed a press
conference in commemoration of the "Right to Information Day," calling
on the United Nations and African Union to officially accept 28
September as the Right to Information Day.
The FAJ Steering Committee Meeting deliberated on the appeal letters
from Uganda and Kenya. It unanimously voted for the reinstatement of the
Ugandan Journalists Union (UJU) and the Kenyan Union of Journalists
(KUJ) into the FAJ. In the same vein, the membership applications from
the Lesotho Union of Journalists (JUL) and the Union of Journalists of
South Sudan (UJOSS) were accepted and endorsed by the Steering
Committee. In relation to an application from the National Union of
Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), the Steering Committee decided to send a
mission to Somalia with a mandate to talk to the two union executives to
seek a process of reconciliation and unity that will lead to a new dawn
of hope by bringing domestic tranquility to our journalists colleagues,
who had been consistently killed with impunity, brutalized, battered,
bruised and forced into exile in relation to their work.
The Steering Committee also deliberated on the FAJ Strategic Plan and
the Working Programme for 2014, the Casablanca Congress Report, the
Handing Over Notes of the former FAJ President, the Gender in the work,
the communications setup, membership, the Secretariat and Regional
reports.While deliberating on the Strategic Plan and the Working
Documents for 2014, the Steering Committee re-echoed its stance on the
Safety and security of journalists as its major priority. Members of the
Steering Committee expressed acute concern on the continued killing of
journalists with impunity and the continued deterioration of press
freedom in the continent, in addition to the poor working conditions of
journalists.
The Steering Committee expressed that it will vigorously intensify
its campaign on the Safety and Security by engaging African Heads of
State, the African Union Commission and all other development partners
involved in media work for the adoption of the Resolution on the Safety
and Security of Journalists in Africa.
Prior to the Meeting, the members of the FAJ Steering Committee took
part in an International Experience Sharing Conference on the Media and
Elections, organized on 26-27 September by the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) and with the support of the UNDP.