Journalists for Human Rights in Mali

TORONTO, May 22, 2019 /CNW/ - Mali is a new country on JHR's map. Starting in 2019, the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) is funding a two-year pilot media development project with Journalists for Human Rights in the country. "The project will help ensure Mali's people and policymakers are making decisions based on real news, not misinformation or disinformation," said Rachel Pulfer, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights. It will strengthen Malian media and related media institutions' abilities to play their roles in fostering an effective, inclusive and transparent democracy in Mali.

Malian media is restricted by laws intended to regulate media and press freedom. This has reduced the quality of journalism and the availability of information to the public. The JHR project in Mali will train and mentor journalists and journalism students, media managers and engage civil society organizations.

As with other JHR projects in conflict and post-conflict environments, ranging from Liberia to South Sudan, this project will work to strengthen the media's ability to stabilize public dialogue, ensure public conversations are informed with truth and facts, and more fully play its role in public life in Mali. It will do so in partnership with Union Des Radios et Télévisions Libres du Mali (URTEL) and L'École Supérieure de Journalisme et des sciences de la communication (ESJSC).

Together, JHR and its partners will build the capacity of the media sector, targeting journalists, media managers, journalism students and the journalism school. Further, it will increase the quantity and credibility of media coverage of human rights and good governance issues, improve management capacity and stability within targeted media outlets and institutions, and increase sharing of information between media and CSOs on human rights and good governance.

The overall goal is to strengthen media and media institutions' abilities to play their role in fostering an effective, inclusive and transparent democracy in one of the world's most complex democracies.

For more information please see www.jhr.ca

To support the Mali project through @jhrnews' #RealNews campaign please see https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/jhr-journalists-for-human-rights/p2p/realnews/?platform=hootsuite

-Our thanks to Cision for sponsoring this announcement-

About Journalists for Human Rights
The mission of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is for everyone in the world to be aware of their human rights. Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) trains journalists worldwide to cover human rights issues ethically and objectively. For 17 years, Canada-based JHR has worked with over 16,000 journalists in 29 countries, reaching an estimated 65 million people. Currently JHR operates sector-wide programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, South Sudan, Mali, Jordan, and with Canada's Indigenous communities. For more information, please visit www.jhr.ca

SOURCE Journalists for Human Rights (JHR)