GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON MEDIA FREEDOM 10TH-11TH JULY 2019 IN LONDON
Juba 12th July 2019. Community Empowerment for Progress Organization was among the invited civil society and media actors from South Sudan by the Governments of UK and Canada to attend the global conference on Media Freedom, CEPO thank the Governments of the UK and Canada for the initiation of the global conference.
The conference was educative and the knowledge gained during the global conference will be used to strengthening the work of media freedom in the republic of South Sudan. Among the key experiences gained, CEPO is able to understand that media freedom should be observed by all political actors and other stakeholder in the Country.
CEPO will continue to partner with national media state institutions namely Media Authority and Access to Information Commission, in order to establish National Media Platform as a strategy of bringing various actors in the society for consultative and productive engagement on protection and annual evaluation regarding the status of media freedom in South Sudan.
Mr. Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of CEPO added that, all the deliberations during the global conference on media freedom worry that society without commitment for media freedom always turn to be violent and less concern about peaceful co-existence and society stability. This happens because rumors and fake news is taking lead in informing public opinion. Whenever, society elites at their various capacities begin to treat media and journalists as their enemies, then, it is an indicator that the society is descending towards instability and possible occurrence of violence Yakani added
South Sudan elites at their various capacities should stand up and take action for promotion, protection and observation of media freedom since the country is undergoing political transformation from violence to peace. The recent observed trends where political and civil actors threatening media in South Sudan should be stopped because, it’s demonstrating to the public that open, free speech and press is not embraced yakani stressed.
CEPO is strongly urging the leadership of South Sudan with the recent positive developments from Media Authority in South Sudan to do more on observation of media freedoms. The actions to be taken includes lifting the restriction on both online and print media outlet like Radio Tamajzu, Sudan Tribune and Alwatan Arabic newspaper as a sign of building new page for partnership progress in the society. Prioritizing efforts for making media freedom to obey, fulfill the expected standards in the country should be an obligation for all.
Over 60 ministers from various governments across the global and thousands of media and civil society actors attended the conference. CEPO will try to facilitate dialogue on media freedom and creation of national media platform in partnership with Media Authority, Access to information Commission and Initiation of Annual National Report on the Status of Media Freedom in South Sudan.
