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Zimbabwe
journalists launch rights body
Zimbabwe Journalists
July 29, 2009
http://zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5856
Zimbabwean journalists
on 28 July 2009 launched the Zimbabwe Journalists for Human Rights
(ZJHR) as part of efforts to curb violations of media freedom and
the abuse of journalists' professional rights with impunity.
Speaking at the launch
ceremony at the Harare press club, The Quill, ZJHR spokesperson
Dumisani Muleya, said the organisation was moulded along the lines
of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Muleya who is also an
assistant editor with the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent,
said his organisation would among other objectives lobby the government
to create an enabling environment for the free practice of journalism.
He said the launch of
ZJHR came on the backdrop of the restrictive media environment that
has seen scores of journalists harassed, arrested or tortured notwithstanding
the closure of publications such as The Daily News. Legal assistance
would also be offered to journalists who fall foul of the country's
repressive media laws.
"We will also initiate
pro-active and high level publicity on violations of human rights
in Zimbabwe as well as network with other human rights organisations
for the betterment of journalists' interests," said
Muleya.
ZJHR would also lobby
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union
to adhere to regional and international instruments that promote
media freedom and the right to the enjoyment of freedom of expression.
Chairperson
Pedzisai Ruhanya stressed that ZJHR was not there to compete but
complement the excellent work being undertaken by media organisations
such as MISA-Zimbabwe,
Zimbabwe Union
of Journalists, Federation
of African Media Women in Zimbabwe (FAMWZ) and Media
Monitoring Project Zimbabwe and would network with them to advance
the rights of journalists.
Ruhanya said
the organisation would be guided by regional and international instruments
that protect and promote human rights, freedom of expression and
media freedom such as the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, African
Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and Zimbabwe's constitutional
provisions in that regard.
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