October 16th, 2021

This week’s highlights:

  • Afghanistan update: Another journalist family safely out of Kabul
  • What to expect at NIGHT FOR RIGHTS 2021
  • We’re hiring: Research Consultant (Indigenous Reporters Program) & Regional Trainer
    (Solutions Journalism)
  • JHR grantee Nancy Agutu wins award for FGM story in Kenya

Another journalist family
safely out of Kabul

Reza Kateb and family posing with their boarding passes as they wait for their flight out of Kabul last week                                                                                                                    – Photo courtesy Reza Kateb

 

This week the coalition of concerned journalists and JHR got journalist Reza Kateb and his family out of Afghanistan. Kateb was working with an American group called Transit Initiatives, who had been supporting him for weeks; team JHR helped coordinate his travel logistics, including working an overnight shift to monitor progress and ensure their safe passage, in order to get him out of the country. JHR is now supporting his family and several other families in safe houses as we work to determine next steps and onward travel to Canada and other final destinations. Listen to Kateb describe his evacuation journey to CTV here.

We are continuing to explore all options, including Qatar, partnerships with American groups that can help get people out to Balkan countries, and other routes. The pace has slowed as paperwork in all countries involved presents what currently feels like mounting barriers. We are trying to figure out the path forward but the lack of clarity is maddening.

This CBC article by Evan Dyer does a great job of explaining some of the issues, including, currently, the lack of clear referral options for people who have gotten out of Afghanistan on to Canada. On the positive side, we have meanwhile had progress on working with Global Affairs Canada to help coordinate logistics to move people along, but we cannot move people along until we have more of a population that is cleared by IRCC to move!

Please help us continue this urgent and important evacuation work. Every dollar donated helps to cover the costs of ensuring that the journalists we are helping undertake their journey out of Kabul in the safest possible way. Thank you for your support.

NIGHT FOR RIGHTS 2021:
Celebrating JHR’s mission to
protect media freedoms

On October 20, JHR is excited to take a brief break from our round-the-clock Afghanistan evacuation effort to toast to our ongoing mission to strengthen and protect media freedoms across the world —and the growing community of supporters who empower us to do this important work!

At this year’s gala hosted by Emmy Award-winning Adrienne Arsenault of the CBC, we will hear from Afghan-Canadian human rights advocate Roya Shams, who fled Kabul as a young schoolgirl a decade ago and has now recently reunited with her family in Canada after their own escape from the Taliban last month. BBC Chief International Correspondent Lysa Doucet, C.M., O.B.E. will join us from London to talk about the situation on the ground in Kabul, as she saw it just a few days ago. We will also look back at our successes through COVID-19 in the past year, as JHR Mali Program Lead Moro Siaka Diallo will talk about how information can indeed save lives, especially during a pandemic. Karyn Pugliese will highlight how we can continue to put the truth in truth and reconciliation, while this year’s Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Fellow at Massey College Patrick Egwu will share his experiences of covering human rights in Nigeria. We’re also welcoming back The Auctionista for another year who will help us all raise $21,000 to cover the costs of the safe evacuation of seven more journalists from Afghanistan.

We are grateful to our Partner Sponsors Accenture, CBC, CTV News and Global News and Gold Sponsor Power Corporation of Canada for their support of the gala this year. We are also grateful to CIBC, Globe & Mail, Facebook, Google, TD Bank Group and Unifor for joining us at the gala as Honorary Sponsors – Afghanistan Evacuation.

We’re sending out official invites on Monday. Interested in a last-minute virtual ticket? Get in touch with
us today!

JOIN THE JHR TEAM:
We’re hiring for two positions!

 

Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is seeking to hire a Research Consultant for its Indigenous Reporters Program to produce Journalists for Human Rights’ report on Indigenous voices and stories in Canadian media.

LOCATION: Anywhere in Canada
CONTRACT TYPE: Full-time
CONTRACT DURATION: Three months
START DATE: ASAP

JHR is also looking to urgently hire a Regional Trainer to conduct workshops and manage newsroom partnerships in eastern Canada for its Solutions Journalism program.

CONTRACT TYPE: Part-time (30 hours per week)
CONTRACT DURATION: One year
START DATE: ASAP

Click here for full job descriptions.

JHR grantee Nancy Agutu wins award
for FGM story in Kenya

Nancy Agutu was recognized at the 2021 African Journalists Gender Equality Awards held in Nairobi earlier this week.

 

JHR grantee Nancy Agutu was named the second runners up in the 2021 African Journalists Gender Equality Awards held in Nairobi earlier this week. The 2021 Gender Equality Awards aim to showcase the work of African journalists in advancing gender equality and attracted a total of 389 applications from across Africa.

Agutu was honoured in the Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights category for her story, ‘Tales of trauma, secrecy and hurdles in unending war on FGM’, published in The Star in Kenya.

Upon winning the award, Agutu said, “Through my FGM story, it is clear that sometimes people need to be informed on various topics and told what the outcomes might be. May this story bring the anticipated change from various stakeholders. Thank you for believing in me.”

Read more about her win here.

Your support allows us to continue our innovative work around the world!

 

 

 

Land Acknowledgement

We wish to acknowledge the land on which the Journalists for Human Rights’ head office operates and
recognize the longstanding relationships Indigenous nations have with these territories. For thousands
of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the
Mississaugas of the Credit River. Tkaronto (Toronto) is in the Dish with One Spoon Territory and is
home to Indigenous peoples from many nations across Turtle Island who continue to care for this land
today.

To read more on JHR’s land acknowledgement, click here.