Under rubriken ”Afghansk journalistik hotas att utplånas” har 103 anonyma journalister, varav 20 kvinnor, skrivit under en vädjan. Journalisterna kommer från olika mediabolag med redaktioner med olika politiska bakgrunder och journalister med olika etniciteter. Alla fruktar de att journalistiken ska tyna bort i Afghanistan.
De flesta av journalisterna jobbar fortfarande i Afghanistan, några gömmer sig för att de fruktar för sin säkerhet och tio av dem har kunnat fly landet. Alla, inklusive de som flytt, vill vara anonyma därför att de fruktar repressalier, antingen mot sig själva eller mot sina familjemedlemmar.
Trots att detta brev till det internationella samfundet hotar deras och deras familjers säkerhet har de skrivit under därför att de fruktar att afghansk journalistik och pluralismen för media kan försvinna helt.
RSF förmedlar detta brev som uppmanar det internationella samfundet att med tydliga handlingar övervaka och bidra till att pressfriheten bevaras i Afghanistan. De tio dagarnas senaste händelser, då talibaner begränsar media och det faktum att många kvinnliga journalister inte längre kan arbeta på fältet visar att det finns goda grunder att frukta det värsta.
För att garantera att journalister kan fortsätta med sin verksamhet i Afghanistan söker journalisterna garantier för skydd, och då speciellt för kvinnliga journalister som vill fortsätta jobba. Men det handlar också om ekonomiska resurser då många mediebolagen riskerar att stänga ner. De journalister som flytt utomlands måste också få hjälp så att de kan fortsätta sin verksamhet som journalister. De som söker skydd måste kunna räkna med västvärlden.
Afghanistan är på plats 122 av 180 i RSFs pressfrihetsindex.
Läs de afghanska journalisternas vädjan:
“We need international solidarity to prevent the extinction of Afghan journalism”
103 Afghan journalists appeal for help
We are Afghan journalists of various political opinions and ethnicities. Some of us are still able to work. Others are in hiding in Kabul or elsewhere in Afghanistan. And others have already fled abroad or are in the process of leaving. All of us are forced to remain anonymous when making this appeal. We don’t want journalism to become extinct in Afghanistan, as it did from 1996 to 2001. This is a matter of the utmost urgency.
Through Reporters Without Borders (RSF), we are issuing a solemn appeal today to the international institutions to obtain concrete commitments from Afghanistan’s new leaders in the negotiations now under way. Already fewer than one in seven women journalists are still working in Kabul. Despite public undertakings by the Taliban, we see concrete signs of an undeclared general crackdown that includes threats to journalists in the field, intimidation of news media and indirect censorship.
We ask those who want the best for Afghanistan and its people to defend the future of Afghan journalism, regardless of the scenario prevailing in the coming months. We call for a campaign on behalf of press freedom in our country, for the preservation of the gains of the past 20 years, including media independence, pluralism and the protection of journalists. The international institutions have a duty to safeguard respect for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Afghanistan ratified.
We need you to ensure that journalism can be sustained in Afghanistan. This means resources to encourage media outlets to keep going or to reopen. Women journalists and all other female media workers must be able to go back to work and to practice their profession in complete safety. And the tripartite media committee created on 21 August must give guarantees that it will indeed be a mechanism for defending press freedom and not oppressing journalists.
In the short term, we need strong support for evacuations of journalists in danger, by assigning them all necessary diplomatic, consular and financial resources. Journalists who have fled the country must be given facilities so that they continue to work as journalists.
At this historic and also chaotic time, the disappearance of Afghan journalism would be disastrous. Ensuring the safety of media professionals is crucial in order to preserve the fundamental right of all Afghan citizens to receive accurate news and information, a prerequisite for any hope of one day seeing Afghanistan on the road to a lasting peace. Help us to make Afghan journalism survive.
Signatories
*The Signatories of this appeal launched with RSF’s help remain anonymous for security reasons.