Supporting journalists in danger, and their families
The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund provides assistance to media workers and their families working in difficult and dangerous regions. Just how dangerous some parts of our region are was underlined last November when 32 journalists were murdered in Mindanao in the Philippines while covering an election campaign there. More than 230 journalists have been killed in our region since 2002. The fund is used to provide safety training, set up safe houses and emergency help lines and has also been used to provide education for the children of journalists killed in the course of their work.
The 2009 Press Freedom Media dinner raised over $57,000 for the Fund. Currently the Fund is supporting the children of journalists killed in Nepal, by paying their school fees. It has also provided financial support to journalists in Pakistan forced to flee their homes in the Swat valley because of the intense fighting between Government and Taliban forces there. Scroll down to read more about the Fund's work in our region.
Journalists in Australia work in a relatively safe environment. It is important we show solidarity and provide our colleagues with the support they need to ensure the press has a voice and journalists can do their jobs safely and without fear. If you’re interested in making a donation to the Alliance Safety & Solidarity Fund, call 1300 65 65 13 for more information.
Where do your donations go?
The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund
The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund is supported by donations from Australian journalists and media personnel to assist colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region through times of emergency, war and hardship. Established in 2005 and administered through the Asia-Pacific office of the International Federation of Journalists in collaboration with the Media Alliance and the Alliance Safety and Solidarity board, the fund is a unique and tangible product of strong inter-regional comradeship.
It is entirely funded by journalists to aid their colleagues who work in less privileged circumstances.
The fund helps colleagues in:
NEPAL
Nepal’s transition to democracy since a violent coup in 2005 has been nurtured by the hard work of the independent journalism community and journalists’ organisations. This transition has come at great personal sacrifice to Nepal’s media community, with more than 25 journalists killed or disappeared since 2001. More than 75 children of journalists have lost one of their parents, and their families struggle to sustain their livelihoods. The Alliance Safety and Solidarity fund was asked to support a long-term program to fund the schooling and educational needs of all children of killed journalists through to adulthood – a projected commitment of at least 20 years.
Twelve children from five families across several regions of Nepal participated in the first annual phase of the program. IFJ Asia-Pacific is working with a program coordinator hosted by the Asian Journalists’ Association (AJA) to coordinate implementation, and has introduced 15 more children in the program as part of phase two of the program in 2010.
PHILIPPINES
The massacre of 32 media personnel, among a group of 58, in the southern Philippines on November 23 is the world’s worst single atrocity committed against the media in living memory. The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund has worked closely with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) over many years to assist in setting up an NUJP Safety Office, which is now supported by the Norwegian journalists’ union, Norsk Journalistlag (NJ), with IFJ Asia-Pacific assistance. After the massacre the Alliance joined an IFJ emergency mission to the Philippines to conduct high-level advocacy to demand for justice and to assess the needs and great challenges confronting the Philippines media community. The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund is assessing its future support based on the mission findings, most likely through long-term assistance to the families of the victims.
SRI LANKA
The fund has supported an ongoing IFJ campaign advocating for the release of senior Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who was sentenced to 20 years jail in Sri Lanka under charges of terrorism-related activities for his journalistic reporting on human rights issues. Tissainayagam was detained without charge in March 2008 under Sri Lanka’s draconian emergency regulations and was formally charged in August 2008 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for articles he published in 2006 and 2007 for the Northeastern Monthly. Tissainayagam was granted bail in January 2010 while awaiting appeal but continues to remain in danger and is unable to access adequate medical support. The Media Safety and Solidarity has approved a commitment to fund the provision of food, water, medical assistance and security measures to ensure his safety while appealing the conviction.
The Fund has also provided much needed financial support to the families of two of Tissainayagam’s colleagues who were also arrested in March 2008. Despite being released from jail in October 2009, N. Jasikaran, V. Valamarthy and their families continue to struggle with huge debts incurred during their imprisonment and trial. The Fund’s generosity has helped Jasikaran and Valamarthy’s families alleviate this financial burden and help support the couple, who are now living in Switzerland as refugees.
ALSO IN SRI LANKA
In the lead-up to and during the Sri Lankan military’s declaration of victory against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May last year, an upsurge in violent attacks on journalists – accompanied by public statements by government ministers and officials encouraging distrust and suspicion of the independent media - paralysed the media and press freedom community.
A support network of international press freedom organisations, including the IFJ, was set up to support Sri Lankan journalists in exile. It reports that more than 30 Sri Lankan journalists fled the country since the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge in January 2009, including the leaders and now former leaders of two IFJ affiliates.
The Media Safety and Solidarity Fund continues to provide emergency financial assistance to journalists leaving Sri Lanka either temporarily or permanently. Funds from Alliance Safety and Solidarity have enabled them to purchase emergency flights, cover the costs of visas and administration fees, contribute to living costs while in temporary exile, and start-up costs as they begin their new lives, as well as to support their families who remain in Sri Lanka.
PAKISTAN
Intense conflict between Pakistan’s military and insurgent groups in the country’s north-west in May 2009 forced an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people. Among the internally displaced were up to 160 media personnel and their families. Many now have no means to sustain their livelihoods.
Journalists and their families were initially provided temporary shelter in schools and rented houses in Mardan, Islamabad, Peshawar and Abbotabad but continued to face shortages of food, water, a lack of electricity supply and night curfews. Some television workers were able to continue working where possible by communicating by telephone, but newspapers shut down.
As some of the internal refugees return to the conflict-torn areas, it is now known that many of their homes and media offices have been damaged or destroyed. The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund provided an emergency grant of USD 10,000, joining similar funds from the IFJ, which the Khyber union and the PFUJ have distributed to enable these journalists and their families to get back on their feet.
CHINA
The Fund continues to support a press freedom monitoring project in China. Run by IFJ Asia-Pacific, it is jointly funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. The Hong-Kong based media monitor and project coordinator researches and writes background reports. media statements and a regular monthly e-bulletin in English and Chinese, which are distributed through an international network of China press freedom advocates, journalists and freedom of expression experts developed by the program coordinator.
BURMA
Since an initial grant of USD 1000 to Burmese colleagues following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the Alliance Safety and Solidarity fund is working with the Burma Media Association (BMA).to assess their needs and any further support.
INDONESIA
The Alliance Safety and Solidarity fund responded to a public appeal from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Indonesia for financial support for its members and their families affected by earthquakes in and near West Sumatra in late September and early October 2009. AJI identified 21 members who have been directly affected and said there were likely to be dozens of other members who will also have suffered tragic loss of family members and of property and livelihoods. The AUD 2500 donation by the Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund will be used to provide the affected journalists and their families with essential goods such as food and clean water and funding to allow them to continue working to provide information about the disaster to the Indonesian public and beyond
PACIFIC TRAUMA SUPPORT
The Alliance Safety and Solidarity Fund supported a trauma debriefing mission to assist local media personnel in dealing with the impacts of reporting the wide-scale disaster caused by a tsunami that hit Samoa and surrounding islands on September 29, killing 119 people. The Secretary of the Journalists’ Association of Western Samoa (JAWS), Cherelle Jackson, said many local journalists had reported the devastation of the tsunami to the international media even as they were unaware of the fate of their families and friends. The mission was conducted in local newsrooms with journalists and management, implemented by the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma, at the request of JAWS and the IFJ, and with the support of the Alliance.
