[eccr] JOINT INITIATIVE PROMOTES JOURNALISTS' SAFETY

JOINT INITIATIVE PROMOTES JOURNALISTS' SAFETY

International press freedom groups and journalists' associations, including
six IFEX members, have agreed to examine the need for an international
emblem to protect journalists in combat zones and for coordinated strategies
to improve protection for media staff.

At a meeting organised by the Press Emblem Campaign in Geneva, Switzerland,
last week, the organisations agreed to commission experts to look at the
possibility of creating an international emblem similar to the Red Cross
insignia used by humanitarian aid workers. The International News Safety
Institute will prepare a report on steps needed to improve journalists'
safety.

The International Federation of Journalists, one of the participants, says
journalists in war zones should be given as much legal protection as
humanitarian aid workers. "Journalists and media staff are sometimes simply
forgotten when it comes to the international community's concern for
civilians caught in conflict," the IFEX member says.

Other IFEX members who attended the meeting were the International Press
Institute, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans
frontières, RSF), the World Association of Newspapers and the World Press
Freedom Committee.

A follow-up meeting in early 2005 will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates
Syndicate of Journalists.

For more information, visit:
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2702&Language=EN
- Geneva Declaration on Kidnapping and Killing of Journalists in Iraq:
http://www.ifj.org/pdfs/genevakidkilliraq210904.pdf
- International News Safety Institute: http://www.newssafety.com/
- RSF Charter for Safety of Journalists:
http://www.damocles.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=404
- Amnesty International: http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGPOL304192004


----------------
ECCR-Mailing list
---
To unsubscribe, send an email message to (majordomo /at/ listserv.vub.ac.be)
with in the body of the message (NOT in the subject): unsubscribe eccr
---
ECCR - European Consortium for Communications Research
Secretariat: P.O. Box 106, B-1210 Brussels 21, Belgium
Tel.: +32-2-412 42 78/47
Fax.: +32-2-412 42 00
Email: (freenet002 /at/ pi.be) or (Rico.Lie /at/ pi.be)
URL: http://www.eccr.info
----------------