168 violations of journalist rights recorded last year

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) says cases of violations of media rights have significantly declined in 2023, compared to 2022, but there has been no change in terms of quality and structure.

AFJC released on Friday its annual report on the situation of journalists and media in Afghanistan in 2023.

According to the report, journalists and media in Afghanistan faced severe restrictions and violations of their fundamental and legal rights throughout 2023, impeding their freedom and ability to work.

These restrictions and violations stem from at least 14 media directives, some of which were issued in 2023.

These guidelines encompass various aspects of media, including the prohibition of women's work in national radio and television and a ban on covering demonstrations and protests.

News preparation and publication were curbed and media people obliged to refer to IEA as the government of Afghanistan.

Music coverage was banned and female journalists forced to cover their faces. Additionally, the report said, limits were imposed on women's involvement in dramas and entertainment programmes.

It added the IEA guidelines also enforced gender segregation within the media, prohibiting women from interviewing men and vice versa.

Additionally, media was prohibited from interviewing IEA opponents and critics, broadcasting international radio and television programmes, publishing political, security and social advertisements without coordination with authorities, criticising the caretaker government, broadcasting women's voices on media channels in Helmand, and collaborating with "banned media." These directives were strictly enforced over the past year.

The report highlights the wide-ranging and ambiguous nature of the guidelines, having a detrimental effect on media production and content.

The officials seldom grant interviews to journalists, and spokespersons are not readily available to answer substantive questions or may outright refuse.

While the consequences of non-compliance with these guidelines are not explicitly stated in the media directives, AFJC findings reveal that journalists disregarding them have faced threats, imprisonment, or punitive measures such as temporary or permanent termination of media operations.

The annual report documents at least 168 instances of violations of journalists' rights in 2023, including one death, 19 injuries, 87 threatsand 61 arrests.

Though these numbers reflect a decrease compared to the 260 recorded incidents in 2022, yet the nature and structure of the violations remain unchanged.

The intensified pressure on media and journalists through the implementation of the guidelines has resulted in reduced freedom, compromised independence, increased self-censorship and a shift in media coverage towards humanitarian and educational events.

Of the total events recorded in 2023, eight media bans were imposed -- five of which were temporary for weeks, while three outlets, including two news websites and a radio station, remain prohibited from operating.

Furthermore, within the last year, at least four trials have been held for media managers and journalists in the country.

AFJC reports these courts were held in absentia, addressing charges against managers of 10 private media outlets and three employees of National Radio and Television.

Two private radio station managers faced in-person trials, while others faced prosecution related to their media work. The convicts include two media outlet managers sentenced to one year in prison and are currently serving their sentences.

Expressing deep concern over continued serious violations of journalists' and media rights, AFJC urges the government to rescind the extra-legal media guidelines.

The government was urged to implement the Media Law and the Law on Access to Information, which are considered applicable, in order to foster a climate of free media activity.

The caretaker government has not yet commented on this report, but the acting minister of information, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwah, had said on the accountability programme five months again that no journalist had been killed or injured in Afghanistan last year.

Maulvi Hayatullah Mohajir Farahi, deputy minister of publication and broadcasting, had acknowledged access to information was the right of every citizen and spokesmen for government agencies were required to share information with the public and journalists in a timely manner.

He had said any media outlet that was facing the problem of not having access to information could share their problem with the ministry.

sa/mud