September 18th, 2021


This week’s highlights:

  • Progress in #Afghanistan
  • JHR-trained journalist Bassam Al-Qadhi named finalist for IOM’s media award
  • Webinar: Your #Landback questions, answered by the Indigenous Media Collaborative
  • Job opportunity: Junior Curriculum Associate – MMFC program
  • There’s still time to reserve your seats at Night For Rights 2021

More progress in Afghanistan

 

This morning, JHR and our partners at Aman Lara and the Veterans Transition Network evacuated 10 more Afghan journalists and their families from Kabul, bringing our coalition’s total number of evacuees up to 97 of a list that is now 450 long. Today’s outcome was the product of determined work by many people, including the superb Kiran Nazish of the Coalition for Women in Media and what felt like an all-of-Bay-Street effort to ensure the financing was in place that went right through to the wee hours of the morning. The Globe and Mail, CIBC and also TD bank also deserve recognition for the leadership roles they played in this outcome.

The challenges remain immense. Evacuation routes that at one point looked promising suddenly evaporate. Others come on stream so quickly, it’s a scramble to then convert them into real options. The lack of predictability has made this a 24/7 coordination effort. We continue to explore the scalability of routes that we have tested and proven to be successful. But we are up against the clock, the scale of the effort needed, ongoing bureaucracy, rockets falling in Kabul, frightening instability on the ground, team fatigue, the need to provide ongoing counselling to those in desperate straits, partnership management, the ongoing need to fundraise, and more. And then, once we get people out, we often need to provide temporary help with safe housing and financial support for people whose assets have been temporarily frozen.

This urgent, life-saving, round-the-clock effort continues today, as a growing number of journalists, human rights defenders and their family members look to us to facilitate their safe exit from Afghanistan. We thank coalition members Mark MacKinnon and Sally Armstrong, and also grateful to Daphne Bramham in Vancouver for helping us keep this important initiative in the headlines of TheGlobe and Mail, The Star and the Vancouver Sun.

The scale remains immense. Further, we cannot currently look to governments for funding, with an election on, and lack of clarity of who is going to take control in Ottawa. That means that right now, it’s up to all of us to make this right for these people. We’re asking those of you who have not done so yet to step up and support us in this work – any amount helps. Please donate to our Evacuate Journalists Out Of Kabul fund, as we race against time to get a maximum number of people out using the remaining possible means.


JHR-trained journalist Bassam Al-Qadhi
named finalist for International Organization for
Migration’s media award

           Bassam Al Qadhi has been nominated for his article about the worsening                      living conditions of migrants in Yemen – Photo courtesy IOM Yemen’s Facebook page

 

A story by journalist and JHR trainee Bassam Al-Qadhi on the worsening plight of migrants in Yemen during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the finalists for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s inaugural Yemen Migration Media Award.

As a key country on the route from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf, migration is often reported on by Yemen’s local media. The award aims to recognize journalistic excellence, relevance and newsworthiness of press pieces dealing with migration along the route.

In his story for Al Ayyam newspaper, Al-Qadhi reports that refugees are “being held in enclosures that are not suitable even for animals.”

Read the full story (in Arabic) here.

 

Al-Qadhi has pursued human rights topics as a journalist for decades and is the president of the Humanitarian Journalism Foundation in Yemen. JHR congratulates Al-Qadhi on this latest recognition.


     

The above stories are part of the Mobilizing Media to Fight COVID-19 project funded by

 


WEBINAR:
Your #Landback questions, answered by the
Indigenous Media Collaborative

 

 

On Wednesday, September 15, the Indigenous Media Collaborative came together to talk about their recently published solutions journalism stories on Indigenous sovereignty and Landback. In the course of the discussion, panelists also discussed how solutions journalism strengthens the reporting around a topic.

Oscar Baker III said that solutions journalism helps center the conversation around how people are already trying to solve issues around our communities. He said, “We don’t just hear enough positive stories around our [Indigenous] communities. In many ways, solutions journalism highlights how we’re solving our own issues within our communities.”

According to Meaghan Brackenbury of Cabin Radio, “To effectively further any movement, it’s necessary to understand the action that is being taken around it. Solutions journalism is bridging the gap between words and action in a meaningful way. There’s lots of rhetoric on what should be done, but it’s also important to examine what is really being done.”

Watch the full webinar here.


WORK FOR THE MMFC PROGRAM:
We’re hiring a Junior Curriculum Research And
Development Associate!

 

Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is looking for a Junior Curriculum Development Associate to support the coordination, communication, and administrative work for initiatives relating to the organization, review, update, and improvement of curriculum that are part of its programs overseas and in Canada.

The associate will work under the supervision of the Director of Policy and Project Manager and in collaboration with the international department of JHR to implement its new project ‘Mobilizing Media to Fight COVID-19’ in 12 African and Middle Eastern countries.

LOCATION: Toronto, Head Office
DURATION: 2-3 months (Sept 2021 – Nov 2021)
START DATE: As soon as possible


Have you reserved your seats
at Night For Rights 2021?

 

JHR is holding its annual Night for Rights gala dinner and party at the Brickworks Pavilion in Toronto on October 20, 2021, from 6pm to 8pm. This year, mindful of potential public health concerns, we’re also offering our supporters the opportunity to join the party online with a fabulous virtual experience in the works!

Thank you to the Fisher family, Delaney family, Shelly Meadows, and our numerous other supporters
for purchasing tables and tickets at the early bird rate. Tickets continue to sell fast and are available for purchase at www.night4rights.com at $1000 for a ticket and $8000 for a table of up to 8 seats.

We look forward to seeing you on October 20!


 

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