Mauritanian journalists form rights group

Press workers and activists have joined forces in Mauritania to battle human rights abuses and foster a culture of tolerance.

By Jemal Oumar for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 01/06/11

A group of Mauritanian media professionals and bloggers last week announced the creation of a new club aimed at protecting journalists' rights.

The club, whose vision is inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, seeks "to encourage journalists to write about topics on human rights in their press reports", according to its founding statement released May 22nd.

Journalists "will work on establishing a strong ground for rights values that conform to Mauritania's constitution and relevant laws in order to disseminate a spirit of tolerance, the values of justice and respect of different opinions and to urge press institutions to assume their roles in these fields", the statement read.

According to club president Mohamed Vall Ould Sidi Meila, Mauritanian journalists lack "a rights culture" and "simply go along with the regime's propaganda".

"There are no newspapers or media forums that are directly concerned with the human rights issues that are being discussed in Mauritania now, such as slavery, which still exists in this country although the world is living in the 21st century," he said.

The club hopes to fill this gap by organizing training courses and conferences that "would give journalists an opportunity to understand human rights and respect individuals' peculiarities". "We also hope that the media will keep abreast with the work of human rights organizations in which we are active, such as Mauritania's Initiative for the Resurgence for the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) and organization SOS Slaves," Ould Sidi Meila said.

According to the club chief, the group is not optimistic that the government will welcome their initiative.

"As rights journalists, we don't believe that the ministry concerned will give an administrative permit to our new league," he said. "This is exactly like what happened with other rights organizations that were rejected, and this is specially the case because the leaders of the club are members in known rights organizations."

Still, they are determined to carry on their work by exposing cases of human rights violations. "We're confronting this reality and we reject it," Ould Sidi Meila said.

For their part, rights defenders will contribute by "providing the Mauritanian press with correct information and advising media institutions about their editorial breaches, lack of objectivity and impartiality," said Oubeid Ould Imijen, the general coordinator of the club.

The ultimate target is to "protect the press against being dragged to hate, racism and intolerance", according to Ould Imijen.

Human rights groups in Mauritania, he said, are "paralyzed" and unable to help journalists "regain trust in their profession and try to improve away from any official, party or tribal pressures".

"We rely, first and foremost, on ourselves to accelerate the change in the pattern of journalism and change the mentality of people working in it," he emphasized. "We're also keen on selecting those who desire to join the club, which makes it imperative for those who want to do so to abide by the global values we're espousing. After that, it's necessary to rely on the group because it will set a good example in the field."

The club will award journalists who "dedicate themselves to the defense of basic and collective freedoms", he said.

Women's rights will be among the priorities of the group, said Marieme Aziz, secretary of production and documentation.

"We hope this club will be like a forum for all media professionals and human rights victims in Mauritania, whether women or men," she told Magharebia. "It's considered an extension of our struggle for human rights in this country."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/06/01/feature-03.