Unwanted Witness: Colombia and the limits to Freedom of the Press in the Context of Armed Conflict

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Thursday October 08, 2009 15:09 by LASC - Libertad research at lasc dot ie

• "Unwanted Witness”: a documentary on the work of Hollman Morris as an independent journalist in the Colombian conflict
• Followed by a Q&A / debate on Freedom of the Press in the Context of Armed Conflict. Panelists: Hollman Morris and Anne Daly of Esperanza Productions

Tuesday 13th October
18:00 o’clock
Pearse Centre (Ireland Institute)
27 Pearse Street
Dublin 2

PANELIST FOR THE DEBATE:
• Hollman Morris is a Colombian journalist who has specialised in coverage of the armed conflict and on human rights issues. He has ample experience in radio, press and TV and his life is constantly under death threat, as a result of his commitment to honour his profession and to be the voice of the voiceless and for his uncompromising criticism to the powers fuelling the armed conflict. Earlier this year he was forced to flee Colombia due to a wave of attacks towards him lead by the president himself. He has studied conflict resolution, human rights and international humanitarian law.
• Anne Daly is an Irish journalist who has extensively covered conflicts and human rights issues, including El Salvador, East Timor and Rwanda and who is a co-founder of Esperanza productions.

Over the last 60 years Colombia has been suffering -in varying forms and degrees of intensity -from an armed and social conflict that has left scores of people dead and millions displaced. Colombia embodies the proverb which says that in every conflict the first victim is truth: during the last 30 years, over 130 journalists have been killed and many had to go into exile. In the period of 1992-2006 alone 98 journalists were killed. In all cases but 3, the perpetrators of the crimes got away with absolute impunity.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Colombia comes 126th (out of 169) in the World ranking of countries with the worse record in terms of freedom of the press. Colombian journalists face harassment from armed groups, the military and members of government, threats, censorship, self-censorship for doing their job in the context of an armed conflict. Access to information is often denied to journalists in the course of their work. Many journalists face legal actions from the authorities.

This event is jointly organised by the Latin America Solidarity Centre and LIBERTAD

LASC is an initiative for development education, campaigning solidarity and cultural promotion linking Ireland and Latin America.

The International FEDERATION OF LIBERTAD (Freedom) COMMITTEES aims to organise events and support actions nationally and internationally in order to bring about the release of all hostages in Colombia and to support all victims of violence in that country.

See:
www.unwantedwitness.com
www.ficib.eu
www.lasc.ie