Monrovia – The regional independent non-governmental organization Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has released a report highlighting wanton violations including murder, physical attacks, arbitrary arrests and/or detention, kidnapping, sentencing, as well as threats by some individuals including police officers, against journalists in Liberia.
The release of the MFWA report mirrors the United Nations Plan of Action for the Protection of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, adopted on December 18, 2013, by the UN General Assembly’s Resolution A/RES/68/163.
United Nations Resolution A/RES/68/163 urges member countries to commit to preventing violence against journalists, to ensure accountability and bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers.
It further called on member states to promote a safe and enabling environment for journalists to do their work without undue interference from any actors.
The MFWA report, which focuses on the safety of journalists situation in the country over the past five years, named state security agents particularly police officers, government officials, and individuals widely believe to be political party affiliates, as some of the perpetrators who have meted out mayhem against journalists in the line of discharging their journalistic duty from 2014 to 2019.
In the report, the MFWA, a regional independent ngo and the biggest and most influential media development and freedom of expression advocacy organization in West Africa, named ruling party lawmakers, Representatives Solomon George and Munah Pelhem Youngblood, as well as Liberty Party stalwart and now Montserrado Senator Darius Dillon, as some of the perpetrators.
The MFWA in the report recalls that on June 7, 2019, the George Weah-led government joined the growing list of African governments who violate the online rights of their citizens by turning off access to the internet/social media to quell anti-government protests.
The Weah administration ordered Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country to block social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and messaging WhatsApp on mobile devices. That move cut off an estimated 4,028,418 Facebook subscribers in the country, according to MFWA.
From 2014 to 2019, the MFWA in its report, documented 31 violations against journalists and media outlets in the country, indicating that although Liberia has of late decriminalized libel, and already passed a Right to Information Law in 2010, the situation in the country regarding the empowerment of a vibrant media and civil society is far from encouraging, adding that government’s influence and control over the media also remains a challenge.
“Journalists face arrests, physical attacks, threats, intimidation etc. Journalists also face the challenge of consistent civil libel suits, which have threatened the sustainability and independence of the media,” the report states, adding, “Some journalists have been arrested and detained following their failure to pay these excessive fines.”
The MFWA, with a mission to promote and defend the right to freedom of expression of all persons particularly the media and human rights defenders in West Africa, notes in its report that Liberia has had a history of attacks on media outlets in response to criticisms of government or other political figures, pointing to the latest occurrence as the attacks against Joy FM, Roots FM, and the October 17, 2018 car-ramming incident of the famous chalkboard newsstand, Daily Talk.
On February 9, 2018, MFWA reports that the ruling CDC Rep Munah Pelham-Youngblood of Montserrado County District #9, having accused FrontPageAfrica reporter Henry Karmo of publishing a hostile story about her, verbally and physically assaulted the journalist in open Plenary in the House of Representatives.
The MFWA further reports that on January 31, 2018, two journalists, Abraham Morris of the The Inprofile Daily newspaper and Austin Kawa of Prime FM were beaten by a police officer at the Senate Wing of the Legislature on the alleged orders of Senator Nyonblee Karngar-Lawrence of Grand Bassa County.
On April 13, 2017, a leading member of the country’s opposition bloc, Liberty Party stalwart now Senator of Montserrado County, Darius Dillon, attacked Joe K.S. Fineboy, a freelance journalist, who had gone to the LP’s headquarters in Congo Town to seek information about a fleet of new vehicles being paraded at the time by the political party when Dillon took offense and assaulted him, according to the MFWA report.
The report titled: “State of Safety of Journalists Situation in Liberia: 2014-2019”, and published on MFWA’s website at www.mfwa.org, catalogs two cases of physical attacks against journalists in 2019, one case of arbitrary arrest and/or detention, two incidents of seizure and/or destruction of equipment either belonging to journalists or media outlets, and two cases of state censorship against the media, totaling seven cases of press freedom violation so far this year.
The year before, MFWA says there were three different incidents of physical attacks against journalists in the country; one media house was shut down by government; threats issued against journalist on three occasions; and at least one arbitrary arrest and/or detention of a journalist was recorded.
In 2017, MFWA records that there was just a single case of physical attack meted out against a journalist, while in 2016, two media institutions were shut down by the Government of Liberia, one journalist attacked physically, while another was either arbitrarily arrested or detained.
As at 2015, MFWA reports that there were two cases of physical attacks against journalists, adding that in 2014, four other journalists were physically assaulted, one arbitrarily arrested or detained, with three cases of government censorship against media houses, and the shutting down of another.
The MFWA which in its report also catalogs excessive fines being imposed on journalists and media entities during the period under review, stresses that in a bid to protect journalists in Liberia the need to guarantee press freedom and protect journalists’ safety cannot be overemphasized because of the media’s central role in promoting good governance and accountability.
The group notes that because of the watchdog and gate-keeping role of the media, the safety and cohesion of society is closely linked to the professionalism and efficacy of the media, stressing that the media cannot be professional and vibrant if it is subjected to harassment, attacks, intimidation and censorship, hence the need for it to be protected.
In order to ensure what it calls a solid safety of journalists mechanism aimed at promoting and protecting the safety of journalists in Liberia, MFWA stated that it is imperative for the authorities to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach to preventing press freedom violations and combating impunity by punishing crimes against journalists.
The group, has therefore, advanced to the Government of Liberia, local and international organizations including the Un, civil society and media actors as well as the academia, several recommendations geared toward ensuring the protection and safety of journalists in Liberia.
