MISA celebrates World Press Freedom Day 2014

3 May 2014, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA - Every year on 3 May, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) joins the international community in commemorating World Press Freedom Day.  On this day, we celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom and take the opportunity to evaluate press freedom; defend the media from attacks on their independence; and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives for simply performing the duties of their profession. MISA also marks the day each year, by officially launching our annual publication So This Is Democracy? State of media freedom in southern Africa.
 
Unfortunately, the disturbing but relevant theme for media freedom in southern Africa in 2013 was 'media behind bars'.  Globally, 2013 was labelled the second worst year on record for jailed journalists (after 2012) and MISA recorded 16 cases of journalists being arrested. The trend seems to be continuing in 2014.
 
In March 2014, MISA condemned the arrest, detention and unconstitutional closed hearing of prominent human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko and Nation magazine editor, Bheki Makhubu in Swaziland, who were detained and charged with contempt of court after publishing two separate articles that criticised Swaziland's judiciary in the February 2014 issue of The Nation.
 
Maseko and Makhubu were expected to appear in court the morning of 18 March 2014, but after waiting outside an empty court room for several hours, family and supporters of the men were told a private hearing had taken place in the chief justice's chambers. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland requires that all criminal hearings be heard in an open court. After weeks of being detained and released several times, the trial resumed on 22 April.
 
As a leading advocate for media freedom in southern Africa, for the past 22 years, MISA has campaigned for the repeal of laws criminalising freedom of expression, including criminal defamation, insult, sedition and false news laws. MISA currently acts as the focal point for southern Africa as part of a Pan-African campaign which seeks to repeal criminal defamation, insult laws, sedition and false news, led by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights' Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Advocate Pansy Tlakula.
 
MISA is also gravely concerned to see media workers continue to be the target of violence. We reported 24 assaults in 2013, representing a marked increase on the seven assaults reported in 2012.
 
This includes the brutal assault of Absalom Kibanda, Chairperson of the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) and Editor-in-Chief at New Habari Corporation, on Tuesday 5 March 2013. Three unknown assailants reportedly approached Kibanda at the gate to his Dar-es-Salaam home when he returned from work. They were wielding guns and saying, "kill him", then they dragged him from his car, pierced his left eye with a sharp object and beat him unconscious. Kibanda suffered multiple head injuries and ultimately lost his left eye.
 
Tanzania also experienced the suspicious death of a journalist in 2013 when radio journalist, Issa Ngumba, was found dead in a forest in January. His body showed signs of torture, including gunshot wounds.
 
The right to work without threat of violence is a basic human right.  Everyone – from journalists, to bloggers, to people who just have something to say – has the right to form and express his or her opinions.  Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights upholds this right to freely seek, receive and send out information, ideas and opinions through any media.
 
World Press Freedom Day, however, is also about celebrating victories. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire in 2015, have contributed to the improvement of livelihoods of countless human beings all over the world. At the current stage of the international debate on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, headed by the United Nations, there exists a clear understanding that openness, transparency, freedom of speech and the media and access to information need to form an essential part of successful future development initiatives.
 
In line with this understanding, the 2014 theme for World Press Freedom Day is 'Reaching New Goals: Free Media Fortifies the Post-2015 Development Agenda', and is meant to further inform the discussion on the creation of a post-2015 development framework.
 
MISA supports the assertion that media freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of information are fundamental rights as well as enablers of many goals relevant to the post-2015 Development Agenda. These include good governance, transparency and access to information, empowerment of women and youth, ending poverty, and ensuring stable and peaceful societies. "
 
To assure the full recognition of the centrality of freedom of expression, and its extensions, media freedom and the right to information, as part of international development, we urge freedom of expression advocates worldwide to contribute to the debate if the insights are to be mainstreamed within the evolving conceptualisation of the meaning of development and the actions that are taken to realize this objective".
 
On our part, as the secretariat to the African Platform on Access to information (APAI) Declaration and the continental APAI campaign, we will make every effort to illustrate the importance of access to information to the post 2015 development agenda and, where possible, analyse how access to information, freedom of expression and media freedom may be integrated in the new global objectives. The APAI Declaration clearly articulates a number of principles that speak to the central role that access to information plays in furthering a number of rights including gender equality, health and education, which are all crucial to development.
 
MISA has been deeply saddened to witness the trend over the past three years towards increased violence and threats against media workers in the region and so, on World Press Freedom Day 2014, MISA calls on governments and authorities to respect the rights of media workers and to repeal those laws that are being abused and used to unfairly detain journalists and media workers and stop them from performing their duties.
 
And on this day our message to journalists in southern Africa and the larger continent is that you provide an invaluable service to society by reporting on situations and matters that affect the daily lives of our peoples. You provide your listeners and viewers with the information they require to be active citizens in their communities. We know that you sometimes do this work in situations and conditions that put your safety at risk and those of the people closest to you.
 
We salute you!
 
Anthony Kasunda
Chairperson

MISA Regional Governing Council