The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has called on Ethiopia to free 2014 WAN-IFRA Golden Pen of Freedom laureate Eskinder Nega and all other journalists currently in jail in the country.
A resolution issued by the Board of WAN-IFRA, meeting on the eve of the 66th World Newspaper Congress, 21st World Editors Forum and 24th World Advertising Forum in Turin, Italy, also called for governments worldwide to release all imprisoned media personnel.
"WAN-IFRA calls for the immediate release of Eskinder Nega, imprisoned for 18 years in Ethiopia on terrorism-related charges simply for doing his job," said the Board of WAN-IFRA, the global organisation for the world's press.
The resolution called on all states to recognise the importance of a free and independent press and to respect the role of journalists in contributing to higher levels of transparency, accountability and good governance. The WAN-IFRA Board called for an end to the abuse of anti-terrorism and national security legislation to jail journalists and for the press to be able to carry out its essential role unhindered.
Recent data shows at least 211 journalists are imprisoned worldwide, the second highest number on record. Over half are in jail for supposed anti-state related charges.
The full resolution can be read at here.
WAN-IFRA issued four other resolutions:
• Recognising the courageous work of Ukrainian journalists in covering the on-going conflict at great personal risk (read more here);
• Calling on African leaders and US President Barack Obama to Address Press Freedom Issues at their upcoming Leaders' Summit (read more here);
• Calling for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to end censorship and halt violence against the press (read more here);
• Calling on the Military Authorities to Respect Press Freedom in Thailand (read more here)
Around 1,000 chief editors, publishers, CEOs, managing directors and other senior newspaper and news publishing executives are attending the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and World Advertising Forum in Turin, Italy, this week.
Live updates will be available on the conference blog at or via Twitter: live coverage @NewsConf, curated updates @NewspaperWorld and via the hashtags #wnc14 and #Editors14.
WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18 000 publications, 15 000 online sites and over 3000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.
Go to: http://www.wan-ifra.org
