Pakistan press clubs prepare roll out of safety of journalists initiative

By Iqbal Khattak, safety coordinator, International Media Support, Pakistan

While close to 300 delegates from 51 countries gathered in Paris for the UNESCO-organised conference “News organisations standing up for the safety of media professionals”on 5 February, a five-day long training session on the safety of journalists for press club managers in Pakistan was coming to an end. The press club managers were preparing for the roll out of a new initiative where a network of six press clubs representing over half of Pakistan’s community of 18,000 journalists are working together to establish journalist safety resources on their premises.

Both the international conference in Paris and the Press Clubs Safety Hub project in Pakistan are significant initiatives aimed at addressing the issue of the safety of journalists – crucially at both a global and at a local level. The gathering in Paris of media stakeholders from across the world was an important show of solidarity. It was also an illustration of the will to share best practices and strengthen the much-needed joint efforts to address the safety of journalists under the umbrella of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity was launched by UNESCO in 2012.

Consequently, the Pakistan Press Clubs Safety Hub initiative implemented by International Media Support through its national partner the Freedom Network, works to support the objectives of the UN Plan of Action for the safety of journalists , which Pakistan has endorsed. The six safety hubs are set up in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Islamabad, Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan Press Clubs. For security reasons, these facilitating centres could not be established in the country’s tribal areas, popularly known as FATA – Federally Administered Tribal Areas – along Pakistan’s international border with Afghanistan. However, the tribal belt is divided into north and south regions to link them with Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan Safety Hubs.

Within days of completing the training on digital security, threat monitoring, and advocacy, the hub managers initiated a major advocacy initiative to raise awareness of media safety amongst media stakeholders across Pakistan. The idea is that journalists in distress immediately are put in contact with relevant government authorities and machineries for any assistance needed.

“We believe advocacy works well in Pakistan and, therefore, there is dire need for greater sensitisation of relevant stakeholders on media and journalists’ safety,” said Shaukat Ali, Freedom Network programme manager.

With this initiative, Pakistan joins a small club of countries where civil society has put a system into place that monitors and documents every attack on media houses and journalists.

Spreading the word about the availability of safety support in the press clubs to journalists and authorities is an important task. Educational material on safety will be distributed at all press clubs in the country. Brochures, pamphlets, banners posters, stickers and badges will be used to inform the journalist community of this new assistance for journalists in distress.

Pakistan Journalists Safety Fund (PJSF) is one the most successful initiatives launched by IMS in Pakistan and the fund will provide backup assistance to journalists via the safety hubs programme. In December 2015 alone, three journalists were provided with assistance through the safety fund as part of their dealings with the press clubs safety hubs. All in all, the lives of more than 40 journalists have been saved through crucial support provided through the safety fund.

In general, work to address the challenge of safety of journalists in Pakistan has taken a leap in the last 4 – 5 years. Pakistan was thus selected as one amongst five pilot countries in 2012 when the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity was launched by UNESCO. The establishment of the Pakistan Coalition on Journalists Safety has been hailed as a role model for solidarity and collective action by all media stakeholders to stop attacks on journalists and put an end to impunity at international gatherings such as the one held in Paris by UNESCO on 5 February.

However, in Pakistan much remains to be done where just two cases of murders on journalists have been investigated and brought to trial.

The author is national coordinator on journalists’ safety in Pakistan for International Media Support. He tweets @khattak63