In UNESCO’s biennial meeting held in Paris last week, Afghanistan was taken out of its red region in terms of freedom of speech and activities of free media and it was included to the green region.
According to UNESCO’s classification of freedom of speech situation around the world, the worst situation for media activities are shown in black, and red, green, yellow, and white colors respectively show better conditions for journalists.
UNESCO’s new decision on Afghanistan was taken only after a widespread efforts made in securing the safety of media and journalists and in prosecution of violence cases against journalists.
Mr. Sayed Aqa Sancharaki the deputy for publications of Ministry of Information and Culture who attended the recent UNESCO meeting asserts: “in recent years, UNESCO had frequently asked the government of Afghanistan to take legal action against the murder cases of journalists; but the Afghan government had not done anything in this regard.”
According to Sancharaki, after the establishment of the joint committee of media and government based on the suggestions from federation of journalists and media organizations, and the confirmation of Afghan government, positive steps have been taken towards resolving violence cases against journalists.
The officials of joint committee of media and government say that approximately 1000 cases of violence against journalists including 70 cases of murder which have taken place during past years, have not been prosecuted.
Mr. Faheem Dashty the deputy of joint committee of media and government states: “in the past year, all of these cases have been followed up and from which 170 cases have been deemed prosecutable and they are actively under assessment.”
Mr. Dashty adds: “currently the assessment of 41 cases have been completed by detectives and they have been transferred to legal agencies, and the rest of the cases are being evaluated.”
With the establishment of joint committee, UNESCO submitted a list of 35 murder cases of Afghan and foreign journalists who were killed in the past years, and it was included in the assessment framework of the committee.
According to Sancharaki, the reports on the prosecution of this 35 cases and other functions of the joint committee presented to UNESCO resulted in Afghanistan’s exclusion from the red region and its inclusion to the green one.
UNESCO holds a meeting to assess the functions of world countries on culture, science, and media every two years in its headquarters in Paris which is majorly attended by the heads of states or the ministers for information and culture.
