June 20, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) - As the globe marks World Refugee Day on
Thursday, an international press freedom group, said that the number of
journalists from East African countries fleeing into exile remains on the rise.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) report, a total of
55 journalists from 21 “repressive” countries, including from five East African
countries, were forced into exile.
Journalists in the East Africa nations of Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda
and Sudan fled in higher numbers over the past 12 months, than previous years,
CPJ’s Journalists in Exile 2013 report says.
With the help of CPJ, 18 media workers fled their homes into exile making
the East African region responsible for the highest exile rates of Journalists
for the sixth consecutive year.
The latest report, CPJ said, counts only to journalists who fled due to
work-related persecution, who remained in exile for at least three months, and
whose current whereabouts and activities are confidential to CPJ.
The group further said the journalists were forced into exile to escape
different forms of intimidation, violence, imprisonment, and death threats
during the past year.
The annual survey listed Iran and Somalia, followed by Ethiopia, Syria,
Eritrea, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Sudan as the nations that drive out the most
journalists.
"Journalists all over the world are being forced from their homes to
escape persecution, imprisonment and sometimes even death," said Maria
Salazar Ferro, CPJ Journalist Assistance Program coordinator.
"When journalists flee, their absence often weakens the besieged media
community already struggling to provide insightful reporting about sensitive
issues."
Most of the journalists from Eritrea and Ethiopia fled in fear of
imprisonment, according to the report.
Eritrea and Ethiopia, who respectively are Africa’s leading jailers of
journalists, have long records of press repression.
Of the 30 journalists who CPJ said assisted in exile from Eritrea since
2008, many of them alleged they have been unlawfully detained in the country’s
prison facilities without charge or trial.
The survey indicated that exiled journalists live in very difficult
conditions suffering anxiety about their family members back home and getting
trapped in a legal limbo being unable to secure job.
"Forced exile can wreck journalists’ lives, as well as the lives of
their families," Salazar Ferro said.
Ferro said only about one-fifth of exiled journalists are able to resume
working in the same field.
(ST).
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