GJA to show solidarity with Iraqi Journalists

Thirty journalists from 19 countries, six of them in Africa, will join their colleagues in Iraq to celebrate “Baghdad Journalism Day” which falls on Wednesday, June 27.

The foreign journalists are attending the three-day celebration in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, under the auspices of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of journalists, representing over 600,000 members in more than 100 countries.

The visit is at the invitation of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate.

A statement issued in Accra on Monday by Mr. Bright Blewu, General Secretary of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the delegation would be led by IFJ President Jim Boumelha and will include representatives of member unions/associations from Ghana, Congo – DR, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Zimbabwe.

"The Ghana Journalists Association will be represented by General Secretary Bright Blewu," it added.

The participation of foreign journalists in the celebration of Baghdad Journalism Day is part of efforts by the IFJ to express solidarity with Iraqi journalists in their struggle to establish democracy, freedom of the press and expression in Iraq after the fall of dictatorship.

The IFJ among other things promotes international action to defend press freedom and social justice through strong and independent unions of journalists.

It does not subscribe to any given political viewpoint, but promotes human rights, democracy and pluralism, and opposed to discrimination of all kinds and condemns the use of media for propaganda or to promote intolerance and conflict.

Other countries whose member unions/associations are represented on the delegation are Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Chile, Colombia and France. The rest are Greece, India, Ireland, Pakistan, Peru, Spain and Uruguay.**