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Media rights campaigners will hand a petition to the African Union (AU) meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, on Wednesday. The petition calls for the repeal of "anti-media and anti-freedom of expression" legislation in AU member states.
Conditions under which journalists worked in countries like Zimbabwe and Eritrea were labelled as "living hells".
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) will hand over the petition to the AU on Wednesday, on behalf of the Centre for Research Education and Development of Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
The petition also calls for the release of all journalists imprisoned in AU member states.
"Too many journalists in Africa are forced to operate in appalling conditions which not only infringe on their capacity to operate as media professionals, but also violate their basic human rights," Timothy Balding, director-general of WAN, was quoted as saying.
The petition states: "Active participation of citizens in shaping policy and decision-making of their countries is impossible if their own governments continue to deny them the rights necessary to ensure such participation. These include the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association, and political participation, as well as media freedom to facilitate a free exchange of information, ideas and opinion".
It goes on to say: "it was with great hope and expectation that all Africans and friends of Africa welcomed the launch of the AU ... however, two years into this bold experiment ... two of the first five countries to sign up, i.e. Eritrea and Zimbabwe, have been turned into living hells for the media by the governments of those countries".
IFJ general-secretary, Aidan White, was quoted as saying: "in most African countries journalists work under intolerable conditions because of disregard for their professional, social, trade union and basic human rights".
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
