Southern Sudan: Building Peace through Media Freedom
ARTICLE 19-GLOBAL
A crucial step towards the consolidation of the peace building process in Southern Sudan was achieved on 22 and 23 September 2005 at a Roundtable held in Rumbek, where Southern Sudanese media professionals, civil society representatives and international organisations produced the region’s first media policy framework. “The media is a crucial tool in any peace building and reconstruction process” says John Barker, ARTICLE 19’s Africa Programme Director and facilitator of the Roundtable, “its freedom is therefore essential if the people of Southern Sudan are to achieve lasting peace and democratic development.”
In accordance with Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the policy aims “to promote and ensure a free, independent, dynamic and public-spirited media that will provide access for all, and not only some, of the Sudanese people.” A comprehensive legislative and policy process is necessary so that the newly established Government of Southern Sudan can ensure that the region’s media becomes a catalyst for public participation and reconciliation in Sudan’s post-conflict era.
ARTICLE 19 and Norwegian People’s Aid are leading a groundbreaking project aiming at developing a legal, policy and media framework to strengthen Sudan’s peace process by facilitating dialogue between the media, civil society organizations and government. The Southern Roundtable will be followed by a Northern and a National roundtable in early December 2005. A model media law will soon be drafted and a code of professional ethics and a self-regulatory mechanism adopted by the Southern Sudanese Media.
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For further information or interviews, please contact:
John Barker, Africa Programme Director
Tel: +44 207 2789292 Email: [email protected]
Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque, Africa Programme Officer
Tel: +44 207 2789292 Email: [email protected]
– ARTICLE 19-Global Campaign for Free Expression
– Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque,
Africa Programme Officer [email protected]
– 6/8 Amwell Street
– London EC1R 1UQ
– United Kingdom
– Tel: +44 207 2789292
– Fax: +44 207 278 7660
– www.article19.org