Story by, Paul Mensah Nsor
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has launched a comprehensive campaign to protect journalists from military attacks, calling for legal, diplomatic, and administrative actions against security personnel who assault media workers.
Key demands include:
1. Legal Action: Filing civil cases against individual officers who attack journalists, suing them personally to bear full legal consequences.
2. Diplomatic Pressure: Engaging with international embassies to potentially revoke visas of identified offending security officers.
3. International Sanctions: Requesting UN, African Union, and ECOWAS to block international postings and peacekeeping opportunities for media rights violators.
4. Administrative Consequences: Petitioning Armed Forces and Police Councils to disqualify attacking officers from promotions and subject them to disciplinary proceedings.
5. Public Exposure: Publishing names, ranks, and photos of identified journalist attackers across major newspapers and social media platforms.
The GJA emphasized that attacks on journalists represent attacks on democracy and press freedom, urging civil society, religious bodies, and international partners to support media workers' safety.
The association has given Ghana's armed forces seven days to publish full details of soldiers involved in recent journalist attacks.