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Ukraine: New Journalist Solidarity Centre opens in Kharkiv with UNESCO support
The seventh such centre launched in Ukraine with UNESCO assistance, and the third in the frontline regions, it will provide support and training to journalists, freelancers, bloggers and associated media personnel working in the demanding conditions of the ongoing war.
This new centre brings practical experience and a deep understanding of the realities of working in the front-line Kharkiv region. UNESCO provided the necessary support to set up the centre, including staffing, technical equipment and also a generator which ensures energy security, a critical element for the centre’s uninterrupted operation.
UNESCO is committed to providing continued support to journalists in Ukraine to help ensure that they can carry out their crucial mission of public interest, that of gathering and disseminating reliable, accurate and sometimes life-saving information in a context of war. The Journalist Solidarity Centres have been playing a critical role in this respect, through the range of services they provide. UNESCO welcomes the enhanced focus on addressing the needs of journalists close to the front-lines.
It is very good that Kharkiv will now have a gathering place for training, exchange of experience, work and communication for media representatives of various types, including freelancers, bloggers and fixers. Firstly, our plan is to conduct safety, psychological and legal training sessions.
During the opening ceremony, Sergiy Tomilenko, the President of NUJU, acknowledged the effectiveness of the centres:
Unfortunately, the war has been going on for almost two years. Our network of Journalist Solidarity Centres has proven its effectiveness. Thanks to international support, it has already provided safety, organizational, educational, psychological, legal and other support to thousands of journalists working in Ukraine. Now, our network is transforming to provide support to journalists where it is most relevant.
The new centre joins an existing network of Journalists' Solidarity Centres launched in April 2022, beginning in three cities in Western Ukraine (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi) with the support of UNESCO and the International and European Federations of Journalists. In July 2022, the network's main centre was opened in Kyiv, followed by front-line centres in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia.
UNESCO’s support has been made possible by financial contributions from Japan, as well as donors to the Organization’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).
