(ACHRS) participated at the event “Challenges of Media Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt”

The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) participated at the event “Challenges of Media Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt” that took place at the Palace of Nations in Geneva (Switzerland) the 19 September 2013 organized by ACHRS, Al Karama and Al Jazeera.

In this conference Al Jazeera’s Public Liberties and Human Rights department that are responsible for defending its journalists during events like the ongoing crisis in Egypt through planning and executing pressure campaigns want to explain the real situation ongoing in Egypt.

The main themes of the conference were:

• Raise awareness of the gross violations directed at the crews and offices of Aljazeera Media Network during the press coverage in Egypt.

• Activate the strategic partnership between media institutions and international humanitarian organizations in order to achieve more freedom for the press.

• Emphasis the responsibility of Media organizations to defend and support their journalists in the face of violent attacks at all times.

The participants in the conference were: ACHRS, Al Karama, Al Jazeera (English and Arabic) the International Federation for Journalists, the International Press Institute (IPI), the Ethical Journalism Network (Brussels) and Media Development Communication and Information Sector (UNESCO).

ACHRS has always observed and monitored the Egyptian situation, during the past months. As human rights center we focus our attention mostly in the field of human rights, women’s rights and press freedom. We all know that the situation in Egypt in the last months has gotten worse quickly, especially from the point of view of human rights, the situation of journalists, networking and also NGOs. The Amman center collected a huge number of data about the killings and harassment of journalists in Egypt; most of them are local journalists. We studied, analyzed and collect cases of violence, and in the last months, these cases are almost happened in Cairo: at least three journalists were killed, several journalists detained and numerous journalists injured while reporting on the bloody events. Our presence in Geneva was important in order to raise awareness in the international community regarding the dramatic situation that journalists are living in Egypt. ACHRS strongly believes that a free press is fundamental to the restoration of democracy and to the inclusion of disparate voices in public discourse; its preservation may be sought through constitutional or other legal protections. Freedom of press is important to tolerate all points of views and we are here to ask our work in order to safeguarding press freedom in Egypt. As ACHRS we ask during this event the Egyptian government to reopen all the offices of Al Jazeera in Egypt and allow all news outlets to operate freely. The right of journalists to report freely in situations of this kind is protected by international law and is reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 1738.” We support fully the appeal of Al Jazeera to the United Nations to “ensure that freedom of expression and freedom of the press do not die in Egypt.”