20 October 2004
MISA, IFJ BACK CALLS FOR FREE EXPRESSION TREATY
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have joined more than 40 leading intellectuals and human rights groups in calling on the African Union (AU) to adopt a pan-African treaty to protect freedom of expression and academic freedom.
At the African Union Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, which took place in Dakar, Senegal from 6 to 9 October 2004, participants released a set of recommendations urging AU member states to set targets for repealing laws and practices that undermined academic freedom and freedom of expression.
They said these freedoms were "prerequisites for the contribution of intellectuals and all citizens to the development of the continent and must be protected through a continental level treaty."
Organisations that endorsed the recommendations included CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights, FAHAMU and the Inter-African Network For Women, Media, Gender and Development.
Nigerian Nobel Prize Laureate Wole Soyinka, one of the participants, also expressed support for a treaty. He said, "A nation develops through the liberal flow of ideas. Freedom of expression guarantees that flow and thus, the fullest development of the nation."
Visit:
- MISA: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/61905/
- Conference Website: http://www.au-ciad.org/
- African Union: http://www.africa-union.org/
- African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/charter_en.html
- Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa:
http://tinyurl.com/3jcgx
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