Press Statement

EHAHRDN Index: UGA 033/008/2006 (Public)

27th November 2006

KAMPALA: GOVERNMENTS IN THE EAST&HORN OF AFRICA MUST OBSERVE MEDIA FREEDOM-A CALL FOR REDRESS

As the year 2006 draws to its close, the human rights movement in the East and Horn of Africa continues to nurse the shocking reports relating to infringement on press freedom by governments and government agencies within the sub-region. This infringement is despite the fact that press freedom is recognized in national, regional and international legislation as a key factor in ensuring transparency and democratic governance.

From Djibouti and Eritrea to Ethiopia, from Kenya to Somalia and Somaliland, from Sudan including Southern Sudan to Tanzania and Uganda, journalists continue to be subjected to a wide range of violations including harassment, intimidation, banning of media houses or restriction of their activities, unlawful arrests, incommunicado detention, imprisonment on unclear charges, torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial killings.

Global Day for Darfur

Protect the People of Darfur - solidarity action by Irish Non-Governmental Organisations

To mark the international day of solidarity for the people of Darfur, a coalition of Irish and Sudanese organisations will be taking part in a solidarity event at 1pm in Dublin this Friday 15th September with the Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Vincent Jackson.

Despite the signing of a Darfur peace agreement on 5 May 2006, the violence in western Sudan has continued to escalate. While attention on Darfur is waning, people are still being killed, raped and displaced from their homes everyday. Since 2003, Darfur in western Sudan has been embroiled in a deadly conflict. 85,000 civilians have been killed and more than 200,000 have died from war related causes. More than two million people have been displaced and live in displaced-persons camps in Darfur or in refugee camps in Chad; more than 3.5 million people are reliant on international aid for survival. The violence in Darfur is escalating. Civilians are in danger of being killed, raped and forcibly displaced now.

18 April 2006

Fourteen human rights groups from five North African countries established the Maghreb Coordination of Human Rights Organisations in Rabat on 30 March in order to coordinate support for victims of human rights abuses and to increase contact between human rights defenders working in the region Press Release

An inaugural meeting of the Maghreb Coordination of Human Rights Organisations (CMODH) was held on March 30, 2006 in Rabat. The theme of the meeting was “Respect for Human Rights for all in North Africa”.

The inaugural meeting was held as a sideline to the seminar on Human Rights in North African countries and was organised by the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.