GJA President urges global pressure to safeguard journalists

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, has called on the international community to intensify pressure on governments worldwide to ensure journalists' safety.

He made this call at an event organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia. 

The theme for the event was ‘Safety of Journalists in Crises and Emergencies,’ and it was to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

Mr Dwumfour urged the international community to adopt severe sanctions against governments failing to protect journalists and enabling a culture of impunity.

“We need to push for the adoption of severe sanctions against states or governments that perpetrate harm against journalists,” he stated.  

He called on global leaders to establish legal frameworks to prosecute those who commit violence against journalists. He said these decisive measures would help to end the killings of journalists globally. 

Accountability

Mr Dwumfour highlighted the need for accountability as crucial to press freedom. "The lack of consequences fuels more attacks on journalists. This cannot continue if we value press freedom. Leaders of states or governments must be held personally liable for such crimes against journalists," Dwumfour stated insisted.

He cited the murder of Ghanaian investigative journalist Ahmed Suale in 2019, as one of the 1,653 journalists worldwide killed between 1993 and 2023. Six years after Suale’s death, his killers remain at large, a reality Mr Dwumfour deemed "unacceptable" in a world claiming to uphold press freedom.

Approach

Mr Dwumfour then proposed a preventive approach through public education on the role of journalism in societal development. He argued that “public education about the critical role of the media and journalists” would help communities value and protect journalists.

Mr Dwumfour then urged governments and civil societies to work together, aiming to create safer conditions for journalists across the world, a vision he affirmed remains essential to preserving democracy and human rights.

The event also featured a memorial "Virtual Scroll" with the names of journalists killed worldwide in the past three decades.