African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) participants have called on governments in Africa to free all journalists unlawfully detained and targeted for their journalistic work. They also demanded a withdrawal of all charges against them.

They said this in a statement issued at the end of their conference on Friday to mark the International Day to End Impunity against journalists.
The statement was adopted by AIJC participants and endorsed by the African Editors’ Forum (TAEF) and other organisations at the conference.

“We in Africa are not safe from this reality – many journalists still work in life threatening conditions. We are still being subjects of killings for speaking truth about corruption and human rights violations; we are subject to physical and digital attacks and in some cases the objectives of these attacks are to prejudice and incentivise disinformation and hate against us and our work. In many African countries, laws are still being used to criminalise or persecute us and the list goes on,” the statement said.

The participants also asked for the establishment of an international mechanism to investigate crimes against journalists in Africa, such as a special AU or UN tribunal as well as mechanisms that prohibit government and private-sector use of surveillance software against journalists.

They also advocated for effective collaboration and coordination among journalists’ safety organisations and human rights defenders, including by effectively reporting on attacks against the media and individual journalists; and to promote policies that safeguard media freedom and improve access to information laws, thus strengthening the legal framework that supports independent investigative journalism across Africa.