#WPFD2018: UN lauds Somali journalists for courage and commitment

The UN has hailed Somali journalists for their commitment and courage to tell the truth despite the myriad challenges they face everyday including paying the ultimate price of death.

UN head in Somalia Michael Keating said Thursday in marking the World Press Freedom Day that despite operating in one of the world’s most dangerous environments in the world, journalists in Somalia remained committed to their call.

“I salute the hundreds of Somali journalists who risk their lives on a regular basis to do their job,” said Mr. Keating. “A truly free and independent news media is indispensable in all democratic societies, an essential means to hold the powerful to account.”

Keating ending the culture of impunity was essential for journalists to do their job but lamented the crimes against journalists in Somalia still went unpunished.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), 64 journalists have been killed in Somalia since 1992. It adds 26 murders in the country over a ten year period have not been prosecuted earning Somalia for a third consecutive year the worst track record worldwide for unsolved murders of journalists in the CPJ’s 2017 Global Impunity Index.

According to the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) Human Rights and Protection Group, 14 media outlets were closed or suspended in Somalia between August 2016 and March 2018. There have been arbitrary arrests and detention of 131 people for reasons related to freedom of expression during the same period, the Group notes.

This year’s observance of the day is taking place under the theme ‘Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law.

The UN Special Representative urged members of the Federal Parliament to resume their deliberations over an amended version of Somalia’s 2016 Media Law and give due consideration to a list of recommended changes to the law submitted by the country’s leading media associations last year.