![]() ![]() What with calls for journalists and opinion leaders to be murdered, threats and intimidation against the national press, grotesquely fabricated accusations against journalists, the suspension of local broadcasting by French international news outlets RFI and FRANCE 24, and the expulsion of reporters with the French newspapers Libération and Le Monde – the threats to freedom of expression and press freedom are very worrying in Burkina Faso. The Chair of the African Broadcasting Union.The Ministers of Communication of the 15 ECOWAS member countries.The President of the Platform of Broadcasting Regulators of WAEMU member countries and Guinea.The President of the Francophone Network of Media Regulators.The heads of the media regulatory bodies of the 15 ECOWAS countries.The President of the UN Human Rights Council.The President of the Pan-African Parliament.The Chair of the African Union Commission.The President of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of WAEMU. ![]() The President of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS.The President of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.Open letter on protecting journalists and defending freedom of expression and press freedom in Mali and Burkina Faso The open letter was drafted under the coordination of the Sub-Saharan Africa bureau of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The “establishment of a regime of terror”, to quote L’Observateur Paalga, “is accompanied by a wave of fake news flooding social media with falsehoods”, the signatories add, noting that “the victims of these ‘influencers’ are the people of Mali and Burkina Faso, who are deprived of a democratic debate.”Īcknowledging the “complexity of the political, geopolitical and military context” in both counties, as well as their “crucial duty to inform the public”, the 30 signatories add: “The fight against terrorism must not in any way serve as a pretext for imposing a new reporting standard and restricting the fundamental rights of the Malian and Burkinabe public to seek and access news and information through professional and independent media.” ![]() “In both Burkina Faso and Mali, these attacks are increasingly amplified on social media by ‘influencers’ who support the military regimes in these two countries, who play the role of dispensers of justice and issue death threats against journalists and opinion leaders they regard as overly independent,” reads the letter, signed by several press freedom watchdogs – such as the International Francophone Press Union (UPF) and the Union of West African Journalists (UJAO) – and rights advocacy groups including Human Rights Watch. > Read more: Armed groups, juntas create dangers for journalists in Sahel “Freedom begins where ignorance ends,” they add, recalling the recent arrests and imprisonment of journalists and opinion leaders in Mali. “Measures taken by the authorities in Burkina Faso, especially in recent months, are liable to undermine the public’s fundamental right to be informed,” they write in the collective text. The signatories voice their concern about threats to freedom of expression and the press amid increasing pressure and death threats targeting national and foreign journalists in both countries. It is addressed to the Malian and Burkinabe authorities, as well as the wider international community. The open letter, whose signatories include Jeune Afrique, Mali’s Joliba TV News and Burkina Faso’s L’Observateur Paalga, coincides with World Press Freedom Day on May 3. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |