As
Sierra
Leone
President
Jails
Journalist for
Ebola
Reporting,
What
Will UN Do?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 5 --
After the
President of
Sierra Leone
jailed a
journalist for
his reporting
on Ebola, as
well as for
daring to
question
President
Ernest Bai
Koroma's
performance,
what has the
UN done?
The
UN had a
peacekeeping
mission in the
country, has a
Country Team
and
now the UN
Mission on
Ebola
Emergency
Response,
UNMEER. So at
the
UN's November
5 noon
briefing Inner
City Press
asked:
Inner
City
Press: In
Sierra Leone a
journalist,
David
Tam-Baryoh,
has been
put in jail,
maximum
security
prison, for
his reporting
on Ebola
under a law
that says that
it is a crime
to undermine
Government
efforts to
fight the
epidemic. He's
also
questioned the
third term
for the
Presiden
Koroma. So, I
wanted to know
what is the UN
system,
given its
involvement
through UNMEER
and otherwise,
what do they
say
about this
case? Also, it
seems does
UNMEER have
any human
rights
mandate or
component to
it? I thought
all kind of UN
entities had
some
overarching or
inherent
Rights Up
Front…
Spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric:
There's a
country office
in all three
countries.
Human Rights
Up Front does
apply to all
UN staff and
missions. What
is… I don't
have the
particulars of
this case, but
it is clear
that
journalists
need to be
allowed to do
their work
free of
intimidation
and fear.
Inner
City
Press: What
about a law
that says,
obviously,
it's important
to
fight Ebola,
but should a
journalist be,
should a law
exist in which
you clearly
could be
arrested for…?
Spokesman:
I think,
clearly, the
media has a
very important
role to play
in
fighting… in
part of our
response
against Ebola,
whether it's
fighting
stigmatization
or other
issues.
Those
are
generalities,
but what is
the UN doing?
What does Ban
Ki-moon's
"Rights Up
Front," born
of his failure
in Sri Lanka
in 2009,
really mean?
Inner City
Press and the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access have
been told that
UN inquiries
are
being made.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
