“Kære Ban Ki-moon: Red det prisbelønnede nyhedsbureau, IRIN, som FN skabte, men nu står foran lukning” – sådan lyder opfordringen til FNs generalsekretær, som u-landsinteresserede og -engagerede verden over anmodes om omgående at skrive under på.
Anmodningen /forbønnen kommer fra det globale kampagnenetværk www.awaaz.org som skriver:
“Every single person who joins strengthens our call for action. Send the email below to friends and family, and post this link on your Facebook wall”.
Bureauet støttes med beløb fra 11 donorer blandt de rige lande, herunder Norge og Sverige, men ikke af Danmark og Danida.
Her er opfordringen:
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: Save IRIN, a UN-established, award-winning Africa-based news network.
IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Network), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and with regional desks in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Dakar, Dubai, and Bangkok, was created in 1995, when the Rwandan genocide (folkedrab) revealed that humanitarian reporting in the global South was sadly lacking.
Since then, it has won prizes for its reporting on AIDS and climate change, and in 2013, more than 18 million people visited its website.
A UN review found that its Arabic language service (IRIN’s reports are available in English, French, and Arabic) was particularly valuable, as “no other sources provide humanitarian journalism in Arabic language at a time of unprecedented political upheavals and conflict in the region.“
And IRIN accomplishes all this on a budget that is a microscopic proportion of the budgets of other news agencies.
This year, the budget requested from donor organizations for IRIN was 5,8 million US dollar (henved 31 mio. DKR).
By comparison, Al Jazeera’s budget – back in 2002 – was 40 million dollar (212 mio. DKR), and the BBC’s budget for 2012-13 was 4,896 billion pounds.
And yet, in spite of the vital role IRIN plays, and the efficiency with which it operates, IRIN’s parent organization in the UN has decided to wind it down.
(IRIN – humanitarian news and analysis – udgives af OCHA, der er FNs humanitære koordinationskontor)
Is IRIN’s independent voice too much for the UN to tolerate?
There are those within the UN who “strongly criticized IRIN for its assumed editorial independence. They often accused it of ‘playing both sides, acting as a UN insider and outsider at the same time.’”
Is the UN trying to silence a valuable independent voice?
IRIN is an Africa-based news agency with almost 20 years of expertise. Its reporters are, for the most part, local to the regions on which they report.
They have unique skills and access that can not be duplicated. With a very real threat of genocide in the Central African Republic and crises simmering in Sudan and South Sudan, IRIN is more needed now than ever.
Do not let the UN shut it down. Tell Secretary General Ban Ki-moon you support IRIN and urge him to save this indispensable Africa-based news network.
Man kan deltage i kampagnen med sin underskrift på
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Secretary_General_Ban_Kimoon_Save_IRIN_a_UNestablished_awardwinning_Africabased_news_network/?tvwmjhb
Mere om IRIN på http://www.irinnews.org/about
Awaaz om Awaaz
Avaaz.org is a 34-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making.
Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; the team is spread across 18 countries on six continents and operates in 17 languages.
Man opfordres også til at følge kampagnen på Facebook eller Twitter.
To contact Avaaz, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).
