President RMNP Attends IPI 65th World Congress & General Assembly ( 19-21 March, 2016—-Doha)

JOURNALISM AT RISK

Safety and Professionalism in a Dangerous World
19-21 March,   2016—- Doha, Qatar

President RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar who is member International Press Institute(IPI) since 1999,attended IPI 65th World Congress & General Assembly in Doha,Qatar.He is the only old member of IPI from rural Pakistan.President RMNP in his brief speech urged IPI leadership to organise next IPI congress in Pakistan.President IPI & Director IPI Barbara Trionfi while reacting on his demand assured to consider it.

IPI members, meeting at their 65th Annual General Assembly in Doha, unanimously adopted four resolutions urging governments in the region to free journalists and others imprisoned for exercising those rights, and to uphold their commitments to respect all fundamental human rights.

In the first resolution, IPI members called on member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to end abuses of public order and state security laws to punish critical journalism. They also called on the GCC, which includes Qatar, to abolish criminal defamation and blasphemy laws, as well as similar provisions granting special protection to reputations of the state or heads of state, and to respect peoples’ right to share and access information online.

The resolution noted that at least five journalists or bloggers are currently being held in Bahrain and seven are being held in Saudi Arabia, including the blogger Raif Badawi, who faces a sentence of 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine for allegedly “insulting Islam through electronic channels”.

A second resolution urged Iran to free dozens of bloggers and journalists currently behind bars and to capitalise on recent political developments to move to ensure that journalists are allowed to cover news in the public interest without fear of violence or arbitrary detention.

In the third resolution, IPI members called on Turkey to end an escalating crackdown on independent media and dissenting voices that has seen the misuse of anti-terrorism laws to target and imprison journalists reporting on public interest issues, as well as the abuse of criminal defamation laws to silence any criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his policies.

The fourth resolution similarly urged Egypt to free imprisoned journalists, many of whom have been mistreated, and to uphold free expression provisions enshrined in the country’s 2014 Constitution, which was approved by 98 percent of those voting on its adoption. IPI members also stressed the need to end abuse of overly broad anti-terrorism laws and reform the country’s judiciary to ensure independence.

IPI members today also unanimously approved a fifth resolution calling on member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to fully support the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

The current Representative, Dunja Mijatović, was recently reappointed to a one-year term amid rumours of political wrangling over who was to be named her successor following the conclusion of her previous term on March 10. That decision, which requires unanimous approval by all 57 participating OSCE member states, has now been put off until 2017.

President RMNP Ehsan Ahmed Sehar meets leading media experts  & press freedom advocates in Doha.

President RMNP during his participation in IPI 65th World Congress and General Assembly availed the opportunity to meet a large number of top media experts and press freedom advocates.Thanks to Mr Guy Berger Director Communication & Information Sector UNESCO HQ who gave him patient hearing on the eve of the dinner hosted by Aljazeera Media Network.President RMNP also exchanged views with Mr Edward Pittman Program Coordinator Open Society Foundations London regarding rural journalists issues.He drove to DCMF head quarters in Doha and called on Manager Administration and Manager Monitoring & Advocacy on Pakistan’s journalists safety related problems.Manager Monitoring & Advocacy presented him a gift package on the behalf of DCMF.

President RMNP also met with International Press Institute(IPI) Director Barbara Trionfi, Incharge IPI Membership & Global Relations Ms Christiane Klint and other IPI office bearers.Ehsan

Ahmed Sehar met Ms Anealla Safar for second time .She is a Britain’s born Pakistani female journalist working as Producer Online Department, English Channel Aljazeera Media Network.Both were introduced by Dutch media expert Mr Jan Keulen first time in 2012 on the eve of “International Conference for the Protection of Journalists”held in Doha.

He also briefed Director European Journalism Centre Wilfried Ruetten, on Pakistani journalists issues and RMNP activities.President RMNP held meetings with Acting Director General Aljazeera Media Network Mr Mustafa Suag and London based Indian Professor Mr Dia Thassu.

Thanks to Mr Ashraf Siddiqui a Qatar based Pakistani press photographer for providing different pictures of IPI congress and President RMNP different activities.

Source: RMNP/Reports