{"id":68553,"date":"2015-08-07T10:56:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T09:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/?p=68553"},"modified":"2015-08-07T11:15:12","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T10:15:12","slug":"international-press-freedom-organisations-call-on-burundi-authorities-to-investigate-attacks-on-journalists-and-human-rights-defenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/?p=68553","title":{"rendered":"International press freedom organisations call on Burundi authorities to investigate attacks on journalists and human rights defenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lire le communiqu\u00e9 en fran\u00e7ais<\/a>
\n5 August 2015<\/p>\n

The undersigned press freedom, media development and human rights organisations denounce the continued attacks on and threats to journalists, media workers and human rights defenders, most recently the serious incidents in which human rights defender Pierre Claver Mbonimpa survived an attempt on his life while journalist Esdras Ndikumana was the victim of a brutal attack by police and intelligence officials.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, we are very concerned by the continued closure of independent media outlets and the consequent lack of access to reliable information in Burundi. This is particularly concerning given the continuing deterioration of the country\u2019s security situation \u2013 a time when all Burundians should have access to accurate and balanced information rather than relying on rumours. <\/p>\n

We call on the Burundian authorities to investigate these attacks immediately and to ensure that those responsible are found and brought to justice in a fair trial. Furthermore, we call on the authorities to allow for the re-opening and functioning of independent media and allow them to operate from the Maison de la Presse or from wherever they choose. This is particularly imperative given that several major radio stations have been destroyed. We also encourage the authorities to allow for the rebuilding and re-equipping of these media houses.<\/p>\n

In addition, we encourage the authorities to ensure that the more than 50 journalists and media workers who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries are allowed to return safely to Burundi and resume their work in the country without fear of prosecution or persecution.
\nFinally, we encourage dialogue between the authorities and media, between the authorities and opposition parties and between authorities and United Nations and African Union representatives to create conditions conducive to building an environment of peace for all Burundians.<\/p>\n

Signed:
\nTom Henheffer, Executive Director, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
\nToby Mendel, Executive Director, Center for Law and Democracy
\nCaroline Vuillemin, Director of Operations, Fondation Hirondelle
\nDaniel Calingaert, Executive Vice President, Freedom House
\nDaniel Bekele, Africa Director, Human Rights Watch
\nMelody Patry, Senior Advocacy Officer, Index on Censorship
\nErnest Sagaga, Head, Human Rights and Safety, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
\nJesper H\u00f8jberg, Executive Director, International Media Support (IMS)
\nBarbara Trionfi, Executive Director, International Press Insitute (IPI)
\nKarin Deutsch Karlekar, Director, Free Expression Programs, PEN American Center
\nTamsin Mitchell, Africa Researcher and Campaigner, PEN International
\nCl\u00e9a Kahn-Sriber, Head of Africa Desk, Reporters sans Fronti\u00e8res
\nRonald Koven, Acting Director, World Press Freedom Committee<\/p>\n

Lire le communiqu\u00e9 en fran\u00e7ais<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press freedom, media development and human rights organisations denounce the continued attacks on and threats to journalists, media workers and human rights defenders in Burundi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":67556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[366,6903],"tags":[7386,208],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68553"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68576,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68553\/revisions\/68576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}