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IFEX members urge African Union to protect free expression
International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX)
May 25, 2005

http://www.ifex.org/fr/content/view/full/66711/

Leading press freedom organisations, including IFEX members, have urged the African Union (AU) to adopt a continent-wide treaty to enshrine the right to freedom of expression, saying the intergovernmental body needs to formally recognise the role of the media in promoting good governance.

In a joint statement submitted to the AU, more than 20 organisations said the right to freedom of expression should be part of the AU's criteria for determining democratic governance. They said the AU has not taken steps to recognise that right, including in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an initiative aimed at tackling poverty on the continent by making governments more transparent.

"The African Union has to date not taken the initiative of formulating values and principles, developed a sectoral policy for media and communication, nor set standards concerning the right of and to information," the organisations said.

They pointed out that the AU's founding charter, the Constitutive Act, states a commitment to "promote democratic principles and institutions, popular participation and good governance, and to promote and protect human and peoples' rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and other relevant human rights instruments."

The press freedom organisations said journalists and other media professionals are being murdered, arbitrarily arrested and harassed with impunity in Africa. Although some governments have made strides in respecting press freedom, many others have shown reluctance to reform.

The groups presented 14 recommendations, including calling for the adoption of an AU treaty to protect the right to freedom of expression and urging the AU to include freedom of expression as a criteria in NEPAD's African Peer Review Mechanism, a tool which allows countries to scrutinise each other's governance policies. They also urged the AU to create a special fund to support the development of independent media and to promote the decriminalisation of press offences in AU member states.

IFEX members who signed on to the statement included ARTICLE 19, the Media Institute for Southern Africa, Media Rights Agenda, West African Journalists Association, the International Federation of Journalists, the Media Foundation for West Africa, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the World Association of Community Broadcasters.

Read the joint statement

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