NATIONAL 6 -(Spotlight Weekly)]

Defending The Defenders

By BHAGIRATH YOGI

in New York

At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. But being a witness to violations of rights by an armed group of rebels or government forces is not out of danger. Here is why. According to an annual report published by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 34 journalists were murdered for their work in 1999, including 10 killed in Sierra Leone alone. 24 journalists were killed in 1998.

Most of the 10 journalists in Sierra Leone were killed at the hands of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, who entered the capital Freetown (only in name) in January with target lists of reporters whose reporting they termed as "anti-RUF." Six more journalists lost their lives in Yugoslavia, four journalists were killed in Columbia. The CPJ list doesn't include 16 employees of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) who were killed in April last year when NATO bombers hit RTS headquarters in Belgrade.

Since the end of cold war, new civil conflicts have erupted all over the world, increasing danger for journalists. According to CPJ, at least 458 journalists were killed in the past 10 years. 87 journalists were put behind bars till the end of 1999 around the world. Of them, 19 journalists were held in China alone. "Murdered journalists, and those sitting behind bars because of their words, provide the most dramatic examples of how far enemies of the press will go to silence independent journalists," said Ann K. Cooper, executive director of CPJ.

Journalists are but only a prominent segment of professionals defending the freedom of expression in their societies. Poets, artistes, theater workers and human rights activists defending the freedom of expression have also been subjected to threats to their lives by different segments of society.

On March 31 this year, Rafael Marques, an Angolian journalist, poet and human rights activist was sentenced to six months in prison after being tried and convicted of defamation. Hindu conservatives in India threatened Deepa Mehata, a film maker and writer, with her life alleging that she was going to portray the Hindu society in ill manner in her proposed film "Water."

"In 1999, conflict and full scale war around the world continued to be the most significant factors contributing to the ruthless repression of freedom of expression and killing of journalists " said Sharmini Peries, executive director of International Freedom of Express Exchange (IFEX), a global network advocating for freedom of expression worldwide, "We must defend the freedom of expression wherever it is violated since it is key to all other freedoms." According to preliminary review of 1999 IFEX statistics, 56 journalists and media workers were reported killed worldwide, compared to 52 deaths in 1998.

During the three-day long annual meet and conference organized by IFEX, at the School of Journalism, University of Columbia in May this year, representatives from more than two dozen countries and organizations from around the world discussed about the issues related to freedom of expression in their respective countries and also ways to promote the issue in a well-coordinated manner. They also discussed the issues of impunity and repressive press laws and a situation of impunity.

"Since journalists are often change agents of social transformation, attacks against journalists are attacks against society and humanity, and must be dealt with prudently," said Peries.

Participants said that new press laws were being introduced in many countries, from Eastern Europe and former Soviet states and republics to Latin America, all in the spurious name of state security. In addition, many states have kept their repressive legislation from an earlier, often colonial era, that is invoked to justify media repression and censorship.

For example, a Ghanian delegate said first lady in his country went to court against a journalist who was sent to jail for 33 days. In Senegal, court imposed a fine of US$ one million against a media house in a libel suit. All such acts violate the article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) that guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression, said delegates. They asked the international community, especially the media organizations, to lodge protest wherever the violation of freedom of expression occurs.

Writing protest letters to concerned authorities if a journalist is jailed or intimidated also helps, said the participants." We send 400 to 450 letters a year to a number of countries around the world protesting arrest or abuses against reporters," said general secretary of Reporters Sans Frontiers. "The pressures from world community acts, sooner than later, in most of the cases."

Violations of freedom of expression continue in countries of transition, said Alexai, President of the Glasnost Defense Foundation of Russia. "More than 40 percent of the newspapers, 2 television channels, 5 radio stations and 89 local stations belong to the government in Russia. Those who go against the government's line are always in danger."

Delegates also took notes of new opportunities for those who are working in the area of freedom of expression. "The growth of democracy, power of new technologies like Internet and new arguments for freedom of expression present new opportunities for freedom of expression," said Andrew of the Article IX, an NGO. "Trade and economic growth too depends on freedom of expression as it helps to expose practices like corruption."

But practicing freedom has its own price to pay. Says Kunda Dixit, a noted Nepali journalist, "as we have seen in many young democracies, freedom once won doesn't come with warranties. Press freedom must be defended by its maximum application, by constant vigilance, and never be taken for granted."