Why Safety of Women Journalists still on radar: Back from Entebbe, Uganda sessions.

At a time when the digital ecosystem offers new opportunities, there are also multiple challenges for freedom of expression. UNESCO Director General’s report has outlined the current state of global and regional impunity, showing the threats women journalists face in both the physical and the digital space and the chilling effects this can have on freedom of expression and safety of journalists. Rebecca Ekpe was in Entebbe Uganda, where UNESCO and the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, IAWRT Kenya have been deliberating on interventions to combat impunity.

Harassment, silencing, and the constant demand for women to justify their presence remain daily realities. The cost of sharing opinions, leading conversations, or simply existing online can be high. Many women adapt by withdrawing, self-censoring, or limiting their participation. This raises the urgent question, if women cannot speak freely online, and how free are these spaces at all?

But silence is not the answer. Across platforms, women continue to carve out communities of support and solidarity. They use their voices to challenge abuse, amplify each other, and insist on safer digital spaces.

Chairperson of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, IAWRT Kenya, Josephine Karani, has been leading one of such interventions with support from UNESCO, developing an online observatory aimed at creating a safer and more enabling environment for women journalists in Africa, through the development and deployment of digital tools and multi-stakeholder engagement to monitor, prevent, and respond to threats against Journalists.

She said ‘’ these threats against journalists should be a concern to all and concerted efforts must be made to address them at the local and continental level’’.

Josephine Karani was speaking at a training on Monitoring and Reporting on the safety of Journalists in Africa, with a focus on Gender” at Entebbe Uganda. The journalists were given first-hand information on legal frameworks available to them, in combating Gender Based Violence.

She posited that, ‘’the training was set to coincide with the global commemoration of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI), which is being held under the theme of CHAT.

In his contribution and providing a country perspective at the capacity Building session, the FCT Commandant of Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defense Corps, Dr. Olusola Odumosu  gave a country perspective.

He said there are currently laws in Nigeria that ultimately, ‘’criminalizes gender-based violence’’.

FCT Commandant of Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defense Corps, Dr. Olusola Odumosu.

UNESCO’s position is that promoting the safety of journalists and combating impunity for those who attack them are critical actions within its purview for press freedom and freedom of expression. UNESCO’s Communication and Information Advisor for Africa, Misako Ito says a latest report shows about ‘’73 percent of female journalists are targets of attacks and also encounter disproportionate risks, in terms of safety’’.