NUSOJ says Somali journalists face challenges

[Deeq A.]

MOGADISHU (Caasimada Online)—More than 270 Human Rights Defenders from Africa and beyond, who are attending the 63rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) have expressed grave concerns about the deterioration of press freedom in Somalia, precipitated by an increase in violence and other attacks on journalists as well as by politically driven attempts to curb or repress independent media.

National Union of Somali Journalists is attending Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 63rd Ordinary Session of African Commission on Human & Peoples’ Rights, Banjul, the Gambia, to stress attacks on journalists in Somalia

The Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the 63rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), held on 20-22 October 2018 in Banjul, the Gambia, held a panel on safety of journalists and the problem of impunity of crimes perpetrated against journalists.

Speaking at the panel, the Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Omar Faruk Osman, said “the violence that continues to perpetuate in Somalia has created an environment of silence where journalists have to choose between reporting and dying, or keeping quiet and surviving”.

“This year we observed deliberate acts of violence against journalist committed by government security forces, including a cruel murder of a young reporter by a policeman, and no one was arrested or punished for such odious crimes. Oppressive machinery of the government who have been orchestrating attacks against journalists’ fundamental rights for several years are still in office while some of them were even promoted despite them being implicated in internationally documented human rights violations,” added Osman.

“Bluntly, justice for grave human rights violations against Somali journalists and defenders of freedom of expression and freedom of association continues to be an unpaid debt in Somalia, with serious repercussions for the victims and those who defend basic rights. This deep-rooted problem of impunity is further exacerbated by ‘political expedience’ and ‘cover-up’ to portray abusers as guiltless officials in order to achieve ulterior goals,” declared Osman.

The Forum had unanimously passed a resolution on “the unending attacks perpetuated against journalists and other media workers of Somalia, notably, the harassment, arrests, violence, threats of death and murder, in some cases, which severely undermines the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression and the right to life” as well as “gross and systematic violations of freedom of association, with strong cases of violence against union members and anti-trade union discrimination with no accountability and denying trade unionists the freedom to undertake legitimate trade union activities”.

The resolution urgent the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) to “condemn all violations of fundamental rights protected under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and international human rights, committed by State and non-State actors in Somalia, and call for the perpetrators or those associated with these violations to be held to account. This includes expressing concern about policies that may lead to impunity for human rights abuses or allowing persons implicated/accused in human rights violations holding public offices.”

The resolution, which was presented to the ACHPR directly addressed the Federal Government and urged to “guarantee the safety of all human rights defenders, particularly women, journalists and trade unionists, and respect their right to carry out their work freely and without harassment or interference”, to “stamp out the dangerous culture of impunity by investigating and prosecuting officials responsible for committing abuses against those exercising their rights to freedoms of expression and association and their collaborators” and to implement in full recommendations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on egregious violations of freedom of association and trade union rights by upholding international rule of law, as well as heeding to urgent appeals from the UN human rights experts concerning the killings of journalists, ending abuses of freedom of association and immediate cessation of assaults of trade unions, noting the particular responsibilities of Somalia as an elected member of UN Human Rights Council”.

PRESS RELEASE –NUSOJ