Commonwealth leaders must use this gathering to take action on Media Freedom, writes CJA Executive Committee member WILLIAM HORSLEY.
Journalists across the Commonwealth have their eyes turned to the coming Heads of Government meeting in October for signs that those leaders realise the gravity of the dramatic erosion of press freedom that’s taking place – with devastating consequences for those affected – in the organisation’s most populous member states. The CJA has expressed our outrage at the kidnapping and subsequent detention of our Vice-President Shyamal Dutta, and the wave of brutal attacks against other journalists in Bangladesh in recent weeks.
A chilling statistic reported by UNESCO, the UN’s Agency for free expression and the safety of journalists, shows the alarming scale of acts of violence against journalists: in the first eight months of this year no fewer than 14 journalists have been killed for their work in Commonwealth countries. All those killings occurred in just three member states – Pakistan (7), Bangladesh (5) and India (2) https://www.unesco.org/en/safety-journalists/observatory/grid?hub=72609 .
The Commonwealth is under close public scrutiny. Following a public debate in London on 11 September at which the three African candidates to succeed Baroness Scotland as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth set out their stalls and answered questions, the Times of London wrote this in an editorial: Critics have argued that [the Commonwealth] serves little purpose to the 2.7 billion mainly young citizens of member states, while providing cover of legitimacy to many of its mostly old leaders, who are brazenly flouting the Commonwealth’s principles on democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Turning point
The Samoa meeting could be a turning-point. Leaders are asked to endorse the Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good Governance which were adopted by Law Ministers back in 2022. And the Summit will see the launch of a landmark report based on a huge data-collection exercise assessing the state of freedom of expression and the working environments for journalists in all the member states. Led by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, the report is being compiled in partnership with the CJA and other Accredited Organisations. The findings will be the focus of public debate with a panel of experts at an approved Side Event in Apia, the Samoan capital. Other coordinated actions will follow.
Across the world, demands are growing for governments to desist from persecuting journalists and human rights defenders, and instead allow themselves to be held to account. The Commonwealth’s own fundamental principles, enshrined in the 2003 Latimer House Principles, state that the media must be “protected by law in its freedom to report and comment on public affairs”, for the sake of accountable and transparent government. Journalists in Commonwealth countries as elsewhere, are sometimes brutally targeted for exposing embarrassing truths. But in doing so journalists deliver a public good that is beyond price. The Commonwealth must wake up to the dangers within.
