EU-AU call on African governments to protect journalists

ESAT News (November 3, 2016)

The European Union and the African Union called on African states to protect the rights of journalists and investigate crimes perpetrated against journalists.

“We call on state authorities to fulfil their responsibility to protect journalists, establish a meaningful deterrence against the violent targeting of media professionals, and fully abide by their international and continental obligations,” said the joint statement by EU and AU delegations in Addis Ababa.

In a statement issued in connection with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, Ranieri Sabatucci Head of the European Union Delegation to the African Union and Aisha Abdullahi African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs said those who violated the rights of journalists should be brought to justice.

“State authorities should investigate crimes against journalists effectively, promptly and in an independent manner and ensure that both state and non-state perpetrators and instigators of such violence are brought to justice.”

The statement which said journalists continue to be killed and face increasing level of intimidation and violence noted that “the disregard for the fundamental rights of journalists as they exercise their profession has led to a climate of impunity affecting not only victims, but also freedom of expression and rule of law.”

Dozens of journalists are still in jail in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian regime is one of the world’s leading jailer of journalists and bloggers.