Press
Release No.2002-76
MEDIA AND CULTURE
CENTRE OPENS IN KABUL
TO BOOST FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN AFGHANISTAN
Paris/Kabul, October 10 - Efforts
to promote freedom of expression in Afghanistan took a big step
forward today with the official opening of the Afghan Media and
Culture Centre in Kabul. The centre, which UNESCO has equipped
with ten computers connected to the Internet via satellite, is
already home to nine independent publications.
The inauguration of the Centre,
which was set up jointly by UNESCO and the NGO AÏNA, with
funding from the European Union, the British and US government
aid agencies DFID and USAID, was officiated by the Afghan Minister
for Information and Culture, Sayed M. Raheen, the director of
UNESCO's Kabul office, Martin Hadlow, the head of AÏNA, Reza
Deghat, Chief Editor of the Kabul Weekly, Faheem Dashty, and Jamila
Mudjaed, the Chief Editor of Malalai, a women's magazine.
The building will house independent
media such as the newspaper Kabul Weekly, and provide training
areas for photography, video production, newspaper production,
and communication techniques. Afghan journalists can get help
there with their work, sign up for courses, use a library and
modern communication and publishing equipment, and attend discussions
and lectures given by local and foreign guests. The Centre also
includes three classrooms that will be used for journalism courses,
computer training and English lessons, as well as a conference
area and projection room that will be used as the base for a cinema
club. Journalists at the Centre will also be able to consult local
and foreign newspapers there, as well as despatches from AFP,
the French news agency.
Apart from Kabul Weekly, other
independent publications launched at the beginning of the year,
such as the women's magazine Malalai and Seerat, the satirical
magazine Zambil e Ghan, the investigative weekly Payam e Millat,
the family magazine Sabahoon, and Parvaz, a recently launched
children's magazine also have their offices in the Centre.
The Centre serves as a "media
nursery" by reducing costs for these nascent publications,
providing expert advice on how to raise funds, developing distribution
networks both in Kabul and beyond, making contacts with international
agencies and organising advertising. "All those involved
in this project have the same goals," says Martin Hadlow,
"to support independent media projects, encourage a new generation
of professional journalists, defend real freedom of expression
in Afghanistan and guarantee democratic and multi-ethnic debate
throughout the country."
The Women's Publication Group already
has an office at the Centre, where about 20 Afghan women journalists
meet, with UNESCO's support, to exchange ideas and attend workshops
on management, gender issues and health problems, as well as discussing
how journalists tackle subjects that especially concern women.
The Group - which formed around two independent women's publications,
Malalai and Seerat - has close ties with the Voice of Afghan Women
in Global Media, an association supported by UNESCO, AÏNA
and Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS, Canada), to bring together
Afghan women print and audiovisual journalists and foster links
with colleagues throughout the world.
The Centre's visual unit was set
up at the beginning of the Afghan summer and will allow journalists
to be trained on the latest digital equipment. Several training
courses have already taken place, resulting in the production
of a 52 minute film on the Afghan New Year, as well as three educational
films which have been shown throughout the country thanks to a
campaign conducted via travelling cinema. Twenty Afghan women
have also undertaken courses on camera work and digital editing,
with the aim a producing an historical video on Afghan Women Seen
Through the Eyes of Afghan Women.
The Centre is aiming to establish
the AÏNA Image Institute, which will offer a complete training
programme in visual media, allowing young graduates from the faculty
of journalism to complement their studies with a practical programme
to bring them up to the professional standards of international
agencies.
The Centre also helps coordinate
the efforts of international bodies and agencies involved in rebuilding
Afghanistan's communications infrastructure, which has been badly
hit (and sometimes destroyed) by so many years of war. NGOs such
as the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR),
Media Action International (Geneva), IMPACS (Canada), the Baltic
Media Centre and Internews (Washington) all have offices at the
Centre.
****
Contact:
Asbel López
Bureau of Public Information, Editorial Section
Tel: (+33) (0) 1 45 68 17 07,
Email: a.lopez@unesco.org
