The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) has called for better protection of journalists, ahead of the World Press Freedom Day tomorrow.

The Secretary General of UJOSS, Edward Ladu Terso, said journalists “are not safe because the country is not safe”.
“There is intimidation, there is harassment, and there is arrest – arbitrary,” he said.

In 2015 alone, Mr Teso said, five journalists were killed in Wau. Up to now, he added, about 11 journalists have been killed in this country.

“This is serious. This means that freedom of expression is not understood. Freedom of the press is not understood,” Mr Terso told Eye Radio.

“But, again, when I look at the state and non-state actors, the way they are doing things,” he said, “they are not even well informed about the role of the media.”

“They don’t understand. So, media is taken as an enemy, but it is actually an ally,” Mr Terso added.
An opinion writer at the Juba Monitor Newspaper, James Ladu said journalists are still facing arbitrary arrests and intimidation.

“Today the safety of journalists in South Sudan is very meager or I can say is narrow because I witnessed other problems that were happening before, where journalists are arrested in most cases, where journalists are intimidated in most cases,” he said.

“So I always say that it would be much fair if the authorities will give full responsibility to safeguard the lives of our journalists. So the safety is not 100 percent. It will be much better if that protection can be given today,” he said.

The Press Freedom Day is observed annually on the 3rd of May to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom and to evaluate press freedom around the world.

It also aims to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists says nine journalists have been killed in South Sudan since 2013.
This year, the theme for the Press Freedom Day is “Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies.”

In South Sudan, in the run up to the day, the first round table conference on “countering hate speech for peace” has been convened between the media practitioners, the government and other stake holders.

The issues discussed include violence and human rights violations, monitoring hate speech, balancing freedom of expression and respect for equality and dignity and the role of editors in countering hate speeches, among others.