Details

The national workshop in Kampala will bring together selected media representatives and journalists as well as representatives of human rights organisations to work intensively on the topic of human rights and freedom of the press in Uganda. The focus will be two-fold:

1) Journalists as Human Rights Bearers: The state of press freedom in Uganda, legislative trends, working environment and restrictions for journalists, coping strategies etc.

2) Journalists as Human Rights Promoters: State of human rights in Uganda, role of journalists in promoting human rights, a human rights approach for reporting, quality standards and code of conduct in human rights reporting

Content

The interactive and participatory workshop combines the following components:

Stocktaking on the state of human rights in Uganda with specific focus on freedom of the press, freedom of opinion and freedom of information

Identification of the main challenges for free and critical journalism in Uganda and development of strategies for managing these challenges

Discussion of the role of a free press for promoting and ensuring universal human rights in Uganda

The results of the workshop will be documented and published online. In addition, the workshop aims at involving the selected participants in the design and conceptualisation of future training activities through participatory methods and group work exercises. A catalogue of objectives shall be adopted which forms the basis for measuring the success of training activities that aim at improving quality standards in political reporting.

Participants

•Selected journalists (Identification/mobilisation through UMDF-networks)

•Representatives of media organisations (e.g. Independent Media Council of Uganda, Uganda Journalist Association, Human Rights Network for Journalists etc.)

•Representatives of Civil Society Organisations (e.g. Human Rights Network Uganda, Coalition for Freedom of Information, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative etc.)

•Representatives of the Uganda Human Rights Commission

Format

The two-day workshop will allow for intensive interaction between media practitioners, human rights activists and other key stakeholders.

Facilitators will give short presentations on each topic, followed by discussions and group work. Group work results shall be documented and presented to the forum and lead to publishable communiqués. A subsequent public dialogue will provide a platform for presenting the workshop results to a wider audience. Group work and discussion results shall also provide an additional input for designing training workshops at district level.