this can make a significant difference, as those who violate human rights often rely on the cover of darkness.

Unfortunately the issuing of an action alert does not guarantee the protection of journalists. Practical follow-up is required to forward the momentum and opportunities created by action alerts. In the case of Zimbabwe for instance, MISA has witnessed – and reported on – the escalation of detentions and police violence against media workers in that country.

The Zimbabwe Republic police now, as a matter of habit, detain reporters while on duty, on the pretext that they have committed criminal offices. During these detentions undue force is used against the media workers who are denied other fundamental freedoms and then, quite predictably, are released without charge.

In July 2002 MISA convened a core group of working journalists who are previous victims of media freedom and freedom of expression violations. The core group was asked to discuss the feasibility of establishing support teams in various towns and cities across the SADC region, who will be trained to support journalists who need immediate assistance in respect of moral support, visits to journalists in prison, ensuring legal representation for journalists, moral and where necessary material support to journalists and their families, interventions with relevant authorities, protest activities, campaigns in support of journalists, and providing regularly updated information about the journalist.

The core group was also asked to explore an additional system of classification for action alerts, which will classify some alerts as high priority status - to indicate that supportive action is essential. This would also be the signal for support groups to go into action. The resources needed for all of the above were explored.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of Dutch journalists'/human rights organisations to discuss more effective and co-ordinated advocacy in The Netherlands in support of SADC journalists' in distress.

In May 3, 2003 MISA officially launched the SADC Journalists Under Fire campaign in 10 countries in SADC – including Botswana , Lesotho , Malawi , Mozambique , Namibia , South Africa , Swaziland , Tanzania , Zambia and Zimbabwe .

Products of the campaign include:
• Monthly electronic updates on action alerts in response to violations of the rights of journalists in the SADC region
• Practical support to journalists, e.g. food during detention periods, medical support, trauma counselling etc
• Legal support to victims of media freedom violations
• Articles detailing the personal experiences of victims of media freedom violations
• A graphic barometer will be made available to the print media for publication

Every year on May 3 MISA hopes to launch a new feature of this campaign. We encourage all media workers and human rights activists to actively participate in the reporting of media freedom violations to monitoring groups and in the media. Back