Africa holds Regional Consultations on the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists

This is against the backdrop of the 10^th anniversary of the UNPA to be celebrated at the global level, through a ministerial high-level conference in Vienna convened by the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with UNESCO and OHCHR.

Like in any other part of the world, in Africa, the 10-year milestone of the UNPA provides a good opportunity to leverage the successes, mitigate the challenges, and map out a renewed course for strengthening safety and ending impunity, based on lessons learnt and building on existing work and achievements.

Hosted by UNESCO, OHCHR, Austria Embassies in Africa and the International Media Support, the consultations in African are coordinated and facilitated by the regional media stakeholders from Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Africa.

The consultations which are funded through the International Programme for the Development of Communication (unesco.org) the UNESCO Multi-donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists will focus on the following six areas of UNPA: Raising Awareness; Standard Setting and Policymaking; Monitoring and Reporting; Capacity Building; Research: Coalition Building; and with special attention  given to the four safety of journalists Ps- Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnerships.

Kicking of the consultations, the Media Institute of Southern Africa is coordinating the first event taking place virtually on Friday August 5, 2022 10:00 am South African time under the topic: A reflection on the successes, lessons learnt and future opportunities in the implementation of the UNPA in Africa. The second and third consultations will be held on August 18, 2022 and September 1, 2022, facilitated by the UNESCO media partners in Eastern, Central and Western Africa.

To complement the consultations, the UNESCO Danish Funds-In-Trust Project on  Enhancing the Safety of Journalists in Africa and the Arab Region (Denmark to strengthen UNESCO’s work on safety of journalists in Africa and the Arab Region | UNESCO) has  supported the African Media stakeholders, to carry out an assessment of the state of press freedom and the safety of journalists. The final assessments combining the regional and the sub region/regions, will culminate to a publication of the African Press Freedom Report by the African Media stakeholders.