Journalists’ safety matters. As part of our ‘Safety of Journalists in the Middle East and the Arab World’ project, we delivered two training sessions on occupational safety in Damascus and Latakia in January. Focusing on building professional capacity and promoting safer working practices in the field, the sessions were organised in partnership with our affiliate, the Syrian Journalists’ Union (SJU).
The board of directors of the national public broadcaster, Radio and Television of Cape Verde (RTC), imposed a 45-day suspension without remuneration on the director of Television of Cape Verde (TCV), Bernardina Ferreira, on 30 October. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Associacão Sindical dos Jornalistas de Cabo Verde (AJOC), in condemning this shocking decision. They also call for the lifting of the suspension with immediate effect and an end to political interference in the media.
Four suspects were arrested on October 27 for the killing of journalist and anchor Imtiaz Mir, who died on September 28 after sustaining critical injuries in a gun attack in Karachi the week prior. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), strongly condemn Mir’s killing and call on the authorities to ensure justice is brought to the perpetrators.
The FAPaJ Congress held on October 9,2025 under the guidance and the administration of the IFJ. The General of IFJ ,Mr. Anthony Bellanger, and the IFJ AP Reginal Director ,Jane Worthington make this event success .In, all 39 delegates from 34 countries took part in the Congress, which run more than six hours, representing West Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Pacific. As a result, the new FAPaJ leadership for 2025-2028 was elected as follows:
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and more than 300 global union federations, trade unions, civil society, and human rights organisations from South East Asia and around the world on October 24 called on governments to outrightly reject the Myanmar military junta’s upcoming planned ‘sham’ election. The joint statement came ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit, which started in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on October 25.
The joint statement, issed as a collective show of force by human rights defenders, said the Myanmar military junta’s so-called ‘election’ planned for December 2025 was an illegal, fraudulent attempt to manufacture an illusion of legitimacy. It urges South East Asian governments attending the summit to recall how Myanmar’s military junta ignored the peoples decisive vote in 1990 and again organised illegitimate polls in 2010 to bolster it’s dictatorship.
Maharashtra-based journalist Shashikant Warishe has been killed by a local realty broker hours after releasing a report alleging the broker had engaged in illegal land grabbing and was connected to senior Indian politicians. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns this brutal killing of a journalist for their reporting and urges the authorities to bring all perpetrators to swift justice.
Under the guidance and support of the IFJ-International Federation of journalists, FMETU conducted a Union to Union project with the participation of more than 350 journalists around the country. It was held in different methods such as introducing a google form to collect data on the journalists and create a Database, conducting a workshop for young journalists about Mobile journalism and they made 15 videos that reviewed the Professionalism and the rights of journalists through these videos. On the 1st of December 2022, a press conference was held at the Rainbow Institute to release the said report to the media.
Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent, and devastating human rights violations in our world today and remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma, and shame surrounding it.
In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual, and psychological forms, encompassing: intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide); sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment); human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation); female genital mutilation; and child marriage.
To further clarify, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable – for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.
In support of a global campaign and to contribute locally to end Gender Based Violence in Sri Lanka, the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has decided to host a roundtable discussion to discuss Gender and Media issues in Sri Lanka. The meeting will be held on 1st December 2022, at Gallery Cafe with participation by female editors, members of the parliamentary women’s caucus, and representatives of the media organizations in Sri Lanka.
The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions, FMETU is pleased to announce a major stride forward in its efforts to protect journalists’ rights and enhance professionalism amongst Journalists in Sri Lanka
This is facilitated by FMETU – IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) Union-to-Union program 2022.
The primary objective of the FJ-UTU 2022 program is to strengthen the professional rights of FMETU member journalists and media workers. In this context, we are collecting information on the professional status of a representative sample of journalists, island-wide and presenting this information through an online database.
The project also facilitates us to empower young journalists by linking them with senior journalists and discussing with them about professional rights and responsibilities of journalists and the role of media trade unions. The young journalists are being empowered further by training them on mobile journalism and supporting them to produce 15 short videos on professional issues.
The IFJ-UTU support program for strengthening regional media organizations is managed annually by the IFJ Asia Pacific office. The main objective of the program is to equip members with the necessary knowledge and skills to play an effective role as a trade union in the new global digital economy. The program is designed to educate journalists and media workers in order to lobby and stand up for the basic professional rights of journalists.
FMETU kicked off the project to empower members with two webinars in the local languages, Sinhala and Tamil languages with the participation of 300 journalists from all over the country.
On September 3, the training on mobile journalism will be conducted through a full-day workshop. The lead resource person is Dr. Sameera Thilakawardena, Ph.D., a Communications expert, specializing in digital media and cinema.
After the training, 15 investigative videos on professional issues and challenges faced by journalists and media workers will be produced and shared through the fmetu.org website.
At the conclusion of the program, an analytical report on the professional issues and challenges of journalists will be released on the internet through fmetu.org. The Federation of Media Employees Trade Union also intends to present this report to the relevant Government authorities and lobby for critical changes.
The Secretary of the Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions told fmetu.org that the primary objective of this program is to establish a group of professional journalists who are entitled to social security and other rights enjoyed by employees in Sri Lanka.
FMETU invites journalists who are interested in joining the campaign to register their support by logging on to the link https://tinyurl.com/FMETU-PROFILE before 5 September 2022
