Global Conscience

ACHPR Training

ACHPR Training

West African Journalists Create Human Rights Network

Twenty one journalists from 14 countries in the West African sub region have created a network to better coordinate their human rights reporting and assist the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights achieve its goal on the continent.

The Journalists created the network after three days of brainstorming at a workshop organized by the ACHPR to acquaint the Journalists with its mandate and equip them with the necessary human rights skills. The workshop took place from February 12 – 14, 2008 in the Paradise Suites Hotel Conference Hall in Banjul the Gambia. The Journalists also adopted a Banjul Declaration that sort to spell out a modus operandi for the network, and then put in place a five-man acting committee to prepare the necessary statutory documents.

The twenty one Journalists have been mandated to be the focal points in their respective countries and to mobilise other Journalists into national forums for training and coordination of human rights works.

Dr. Robert Eno, a Senior Legal Officer of the ACHPR told the Journalists on Day-1 of the workshop that the Commission organized the workshop as part of its promotional mandate and that the media was very crucial in dissemination of information on the works of the Commission.

The Legal expert drilled the Journalists on the African Human Rights System and on the role of the Commission in the face of abuses, and then urged them the use the skills acquired from the workshop to become frontline actors in the protection and promotion of human rights on the African Continent.

In reaction to a question from Liberian Journalist Henry Flomo as to whether the Commission could not be dismissed as a toothless bulldog and an ineffective mechanism for achieving human rights in Africa, being unable to enforce its decisions on defaulting parties, Mr. Eno said the Commission has come a long way and have comforted hundred of afflicted persons on the continent.

On the same note, the African Commission Chair, Her Excellency Dr. Sanji Monageng, said there is renewed hope in the effective of the Commission’s work following recent budgetary and funding adjustments. She lamented that sometimes states are even very reluctant to implement the decisions of their local or national courts.

Earlier on, Gambian Secretary of State for Communication, Information and Technology welcomed the Journalists to The Gambia and said it was timely for the Gambia to host the workshop, having just gone through local elections globally acclaimed as free and fair. The Honourable Minister cautioned the Journalists that human rights is for all and they should be cautious about people who abuse others rights under the cover of human rights.

The three-day training also focused on the role of the African media in the promotion and protection of human rights, the media, children and women, with presentations by Mr. Habou Adi, himself a Journalist and course director at the Training Institute for Information and Communication Technology in Niamey, Niger. Dr. Emman Usman Shehu, Director of the International Institute of Journalism in Abuja also presented a paper on The Media and Good Governance, while Dr. Feyi Ogunade, a Senior Legal Officer for the African Union discussed the role of the media in the promotion of human and peoples rights within the African Human Rights System.

The African Commission Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Commissioner Faith Pansy also addressed the Journalist about the daunting challeges of her office and about her efforts so far in the field. She also discussed the possibilities and areas of liaison with the Journalists.

The Journalist sitting in a brief session, adopted a Declaration of appreciation to the African Commission and OSIWA, and another that they named “The Banjul Declaration”.

The African Commission Secretary General, Dr. Mrs. Mary Maboreke, flew in to the Gambia at the last minute to briefly address the Journalists, while a deputy in the Office of the Attorney General in The Gambia bid the Journalists farewell thanking the Commission and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) for organizing the workshop in the Gambia.

One thing the Journalist took home with them was an excerpt of a speech by Polish philosopher, Leslie Kolakowski, reechoed by the ACHPR Chair Justice Monageng, that: “There is one freedom on which all other liberties depend – and that is freedom of expression, freedom of speech, of print. If this is taken away, no other freedom can exist, or at least it would be soon suppressed.” Justice Monageng said: “that’s the flame of truth your movement must carry forward …. It’s your fight now. Look around. You are not alone.”

The Journalist left for their various countries on Friday, February 15, 2008

Read more about the workshop

Global Conscience to participate in African Commission
Workshop on Human Rights Journalism in the Gambia

Kumba, February 5, 2008

Global Conscience Chief Executive Officer Samba Churchill will from February 12 – 14 attend a workshop on Human Rights Journalism in Banjul, the Gambia. Mr. Samba will be one of 21 Journalists drawn from 14 countries in the West African sub region to attend the workshop organized by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

An invite letter to Journalists signed by Dr. Mary Maboreke, Secretary to the African Commission, states that the seminar “falls within the scope of the promotional activities of the African Commission under Article 45 (1) (b) of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) and is being organized in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)”.

In an attached programme, the Commission enumerates the objectives of the workshop thus:

1. To introduce (African Commission) and the African Human Rights System to the participants and to exp[lore the difficulties Journalists encounter in reporting human rights issues;

2. To share experiences and encourage participants to incorporate human rights principles in their work;

3. To introduce to participants, particularly, the Declaration of the Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, which was adopted by the African Commission at its 32^nd Ordinary Session in Banjul, The Gambia, held from 17 – 23 October 2002.

4. And to establish stronger and continuous working relationships between the African Commission and West African journalists, as a nucleus for a continent-wide strategic partnership for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa.

For the three days, the journalists, with the assistance of renowned media and legal experts of the African Commission and the University of Sierra Leone, are expected to discuss human rights journalism with a special focus on the ACHPR and the work of the African Commission, to hone their skills in monitoring, investigating and reporting human rights issues and in propagating the work of the African Commission in their respective countries. They will talk about the challenges they face in monitoring and handling human rights, and explore the various possibilities of a way forward. The Journalists are also expected to, when they return their countries, organize similar events to disseminate the knowledge they acquire from the workshop to their colleagues and others alike.

ACPHR, by organizing this workshop, hopes to achieve the following:

1. Increased international recognition of the Commission’s pro-active role in the field of human rights promotion. Participating journalists and media personnel should be able to disseminate, among others, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa as widely as possible in their respective countries;

2. Provide Journalists with enough knowledge and skills to spearhead similar workshops in their respective countries/regions;

3. Build a base of human rights knowledge amongst West African journalists, generally on the African human rights system and, especially, about the work of the African Commission;

4. Establish direct contact with journalist groups and media personnel to discuss media-related rights issues and ways in which they can cooperate to create better legal and political conditions for the exercise of journalism;

5. Establish close collaboration between the African Commission and media houses, in particular radio and television stations, to initiate human rights programmes that will be aired on a regular basis;

6. Strengthen partnerships with journalist groups to foster a culture of empowerment of human rights defenders and civil society activists;

7. Enable the African Commission and its partners to develop more effective and more integrated programmes of assistance to encourage media excellence in reporting on human rights issues;

8. Enable the African Commission and its partners promote internal discussions among human rights activists and human rights organisations on the work of journalists and the media;

9. Enable journalists and media houses to set up networks for the exchange of information and consultation on issues of common interest; and

10. Establish a nucleus of journalists that will enable the Commission reach out to and work with the media all over Africa, especially with a view to mobilising the continent for the 2012 Silver Jubilee of the ACHPR. 

Global Conscience Chief Executive, who is also President of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalist, CAMASEJ, Kumba Chapter, has lauded the initiative of the African Commission to involve Journalists in the fore of human rights promotion and protection. The human rights journalist maintains that a good journalist is inherently a crusader of human rights, and that workshops of this nature enables journalist to exchange useful experiences and create networks for better future exchanges and solidarity.

It is worth noting that the African Commission is responsible for the transport, lodging and upkeep of all the Journalists.

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