By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRCSL) has on Thursday, June 20th, 2024 conducted a training for over 20 Journalists in Freetown at the Peace Museum.
The purpose of the training was to provide journalists with the required knowledge and skill to report stories with a focus on their human right aspect. Speaking before the commencement of the training, Millicent Kargbo, Deputy Director of Education, Communication and Training at the Human Rights Commission emphasized that the training would help journalists to better inform the public on Human Rights issues. She added that topics such as;
General Overview of Human Rights Education, Human Rights and Court Reporting, Reporting Sexual Gender Based Violence , Human Rights and Elections Reporting, Reporting Political Incidents from the Human Rights Lense and Social Media Reporting: The Role of Journalists.
Speaking at the opening of the training the Secretary-General, Alhaji Manika Kamara, of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), thanked HRCSL for organizing the training. He also stated that journalists had benefited from much training in specialized reporting and that they were yet given another opportunity to specialize in human rights reporting through that training.
He noted the importance of a human rights perspective in journalism, noting that the role of the media would be to promote peace and development. He emphasized that it is importance for journalists to be knowledgeable in local, regional and international human rights laws and instruments as it would support their work.
In her statements the Chairperson of the HRCSL Mrs. Patricia Narsu Ndanema said the Commission acknowledges the media as a valuable partner and added that the training was geared to equipping journalists with knowledge in human rights reporting to avoid chaos in society.
She stated that the Commission regularly monitors the media and had in some cases acted on human rights violations raised by the media. She however noted that whereas the media provides information on key issues in society they do not provide further updates to the public on progress in resolving such issues.
Similarly, she also mentioned instances where the media had shared inaccurate reports that may have led to chaos. She encouraged journalists to be factual in their reporting.