Activity Details (ID# 10853)

Activity Synopsis

• To assess the immediate post election environment for journalists and for organising in Belarus
• To identify the training needs of BAJ
• To define the programme of co-operation between BAJ and IFJ for 2006/2007
• To exchange experience between the organisation of journalists in Belarus and in Ukraine and the building of IMTUU
 

Hosting the meeting in Ukraine was a good idea. The Belarus journalists said they gained a great deal from the case studies of combating censorship and defending union rights from the Ukrainians. There were stories they had not heard.

On the other hand, it is very difficult for them to find a way to apply these lessons in Belarus. The politics and economies are quite different and the structure of the media does not give them the opportunity to organise in the way the Ukrainians have done.

Post the re-election of Lukashenko and in the new political environment, it is necessary to be realistic about the opportunities for improvements. The current outlook is bleak.

Belarus journalists will consider themselves fortunate if they still have private media and jobs in the private sector by the end of the year. BAJ will consider itself fortunate if it is not banned and forced to relocate to Latvia.

But the bleak outlook does not mean that it is not worth working in Belarus. On the contrary, it is important that contact and co-operation is maintained through the ongoing training and education programmes, the ongoing lobbying and monitoring work.

 

There are some clear areas of action that the IFJ can take up with BAJ such as: communications, publicity and profile; awareness raising campaigns around Europe; organise a series of IFJ - BAJ seminars on the following topics: Branches and Activists Campaigning Building, Solidarity with Russian Journalists, Ethics and Self-regulation, Citizen Journalism. IMTUU offered to develop co-operation programme with BAJ involving an exchange of activists, visits to BAJ branches, involvement in supporting campaigns for Belarus members.
 

Journalists from Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ) 

Mr Simon PIRANI, freelance journalist and expert on journalists unions in former Soviet Union 

No Secretariat mission