Al Jazeera chief urges better protection for journalists in conflict zones | Al Jazeera News

Al Jazeera Director Normal Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani says ‘defending journalists is safety of the reality.’

The Director Normal of Al Jazeera Media Community has confused the significance of defending journalists working in battle zones and known as for extra solidarity between media organisations and human rights teams.

In his first public handle since he was appointed director normal of the Doha-based community final month, Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani stated on Wednesday that Al Jazeera has made the safety of journalists a agency precedence and the community conducts coaching and mentorship of its journalists to make sure this.

“The press has by no means been a celebration to the battle, however has been a device for getting data to the individuals,” Sheikh Nasser advised the Convention on The Safety of Journalists in Armed Conflicts, a two-day occasion held in Doha, Qatar.

He stated it’s essential to ramp up measures to safeguard journalists in warfare zones. “In any other case, warfare crimes will stay unwritten” about.

He known as for the implementation of human rights rules and enhanced solidarity amongst media organisations and human rights organisations.

“Silencing free speech won’t cease the reality,” Sheikh Nasser stated. “Defending journalists is safety of the reality itself.”

‘Journalists are being killed’

The primary day of the convention comprised a number of periods, the place audio system included journalists who had reported in battle zones, corresponding to Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, who was wounded in an Israeli assault on Gaza in late 2023.

Dahdouh has campaigned to boost consciousness of the unsafe circumstances for journalists working in Gaza since Israel launched its warfare on the Palestinian territory on October 7, 2023.

Not less than 300 journalists and media employees have been killed in Gaza throughout the two-year warfare, in accordance with the Shireen Abu Akleh Observatory. This consists of 10 journalists from Al Jazeera.

“Journalists are being killed and genocide is being dedicated towards them,” Dahdouh advised the convention.

Different audio system included authorized specialists and employees related to nonprofit organisations that work for the security of journalists, corresponding to Reporters With out Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ). A spokesperson for the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) additionally spoke at one of many periods.

The discussions targeted on assaults towards journalists and the imprisonment of journalists in Gaza and world wide.

A number of audio system all through the day highlighted the significance of treating journalists like civilians. Audio system added, nevertheless, that worldwide regulation provisions that lay down safeguards for civilians may not apply equally to journalists. They pressed on the necessity for worldwide legal guidelines that particularly concentrate on safeguarding journalists and media organisations.

“The civilian can go away from the fight subject however the journalist has to remain. To assimilate the warfare journalist with the civilian will not be proper,” Omar Mekky, the regional authorized coordinator for the Close to and Center East Area for the Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross (ICRC), stated.

Audio system additionally asserted the significance of nations stepping in and placing strain on the governments which can be concentrating on journalists.

The convention will proceed for its second day on Thursday.