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Veranstaltungsberichte

Reporting about Human Rights

von Magdalena Vogt
The public dialogue in Mbale held by local representatives of politics, police, civic society and the media focused on human rights reporting as well as on concrete assaults of journalists. On basis of a theoretical training in the following workshop journalists produced stories about human rights violations on the ground.

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Under the topic "Journalists as Bearers and Promoters of Human Rights" the Uganda Media Development Foundation (UMDF) in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the financial support of the German International Cooperation (GIZ) organized a public dialogue in Mbale followed by a three-day workshop for journalists. The public dialogue brought together stakeholders from different groups to discuss the freedom of the press in Uganda. After expressing their different opinions on the interaction of the government and police with the media as well as the professionalism of journalists, the LC V Chairman of Mbale district Bernard Mujasi summarized the dialogue as follows: "Journalists must be free persons. Being free means to concentrate on the truth. Journalists must be well-grounded in most subjects and have to know their environment" (whereby he means the dynamics in Mbale). "They have to put a piece of information in a context and analyse it instead of leave it isolated."

To improve the knowledge and techniques of journalists mentioned in the comment, a three-day workshop for journalists from Eastern Uganda was conducted. After a theoretical training dealing with human rights on an international and national level, journalists went to the field to put human rights reporting into action. In groups they recorded stories about human rights violations in the city of Mbale. The attached story deals with street children in Mbale facing human rights violations in different ways.

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journalists editing their reportage about street kids in Mbale own source

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