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Gulf News reporter Abbas Al Lawati is attending a workshop in Geneva entitled Beyond Wars, Building Peace which is organised by the Swiss press agency InfoSud and the Media21 journalist’s network in coordination with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
Following a five day workshop, Abbas and eleven other reporters from around the world will go on a five day field trip to Lebanon to witness the reconstruction efforts after the war with Israel last year.
April 1, 2008
A universal press emblem?
Two journalists set up an organisation in Geneva in 2004 advocating the adoption of a universal press emblem by journalists, like that of international aid organisations, for example.
Hedayat Abdul Nabi, Geneva correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), and Swiss author Blaise Lempen, set up the campaign after the death of an Iraqi journalist in 2004.
The campaign is not as simple as an emblem. The Press Emblem Campaign hopes to one day become a legal non-governmental umbrella organisation to protect the rights of journalists.
Under a universal emblem, conflicting groups would be obliged to recognise journalists as a neutral party and treat it so, and even provide them with "safe corridors" to report in during a conflict with guarantees that they would not be harmed.
Although the campaign has got some an impressive list of organisations backing it, such as Reporters without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists, as well as the Emirates Journalists' Syndicate and UAE Red Crescent on the Emirati scene, no state has so far agreed to sign the convention, which is required to have it function and be funded like an international organisation.
That, says Hedayat, is due to some countries' insistence that journalists should not stand out, especially in places where they may be targeted, and those countries that simply don't want journalists to be protected under international agreements.
"Some states say the current laws protecting journalists are sufficient while others do not want to grant journalists the rights," she says. "Journalists are going to be targeted with or without a convention. The convention just ensures that their rights are protected in case they are".
The convention, she adds, would be especially beneficial to freelance journalists who do not have insurance or protection from news organisations incase they are killed or maimed on the job.
According to the campaign web site, 193 journalists have been killed on the job since June 19, 2006, 115 of which were killed just last year.
Have your say
Do you think reporters should wear a universal emblem to avoid being targeted or should they avoid standing out as such during conflicts? Do you think its time for international community to adopt new standards protecting the rights of journalists? Fill in the comments form below.
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