Round table on Safety of Journalists: live testimonies by the journalists

Representatives from the Ministry of Interior (MoI), Communication and Media Commission (CMC), Council of Representatives (CoR) and the Deputy Ambassador of Netherlands in Iraq attended the roundtable meeting.

“I believe this roundtable that aims to create a handbook to coordinate the relationship between journalists and police is an effective practice” said Mr. Eric Strating Deputy Ambassador of Netherlands in Iraq.

Mr. Strating added “clearly, the amount of crime against Iraqi journalists, male and female is a challenge that needs to be dealt with”

The journalists provided testimonies during the roundtable which subsequently led to an active discussion, the 30 journalists who attended the event highlighted the difficulties that they are facing in the field mostly by security forces.

This round table is the second event in terms of developing the handbook to coordinate relations between journalists and police officers, which is within the framework of International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) funded by Netherlands. The round table was organized in cooperation with CMC and MoI.

This activity is considered as one of the components of the “UN Action Plan for Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity in Iraq” which is led by UNESCO office for Iraq.