Article 19 organises round table discussion on insurance for the safety of journalists

Article 19, an international human rights organisation that works globally for freedom of expression and the right to information, organised a round table discussion on Saturday (9 September) to discuss the importance of having insurance packages at the workplace as a component of enhancing the safety and security of journalists. 

The discussion was organised in collaboration with Free Press Unlimited (FPU) with the decision-makers of media houses, including the owner of media houses, senior editors, editors and journalists of both print and electronic media houses, reads a press release.

The discussant exchanged about the current experiences on insurance for journalists in Bangladesh and shared their opinions and expectations.

This round table discussion was held under a national project of Article 19, 'Journalists with Enhanced Safety and Security (JESS)', funded by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, US Department of State. The session was held at Six Season Hotel, Dhaka.

The session was chaired by Faruq Faisel, regional director of Article 19 Bangladesh and South Asia. 

"Even though the media houses in Bangladesh are not insurance friendly in taking initiatives for ensuring the safety of journalists, we call for positive responses and initiatives to be taken by the decision-makers of the media houses to contribute in that," he said.

Elisabet Cantenys, the executive director of ACOS Alliance, joined the session online as a keynote speaker and shared her experience on the best practices in the world where media houses are offering affordable insurance to journalists within and outside the workplace. 

Later on, the open discussion session was moderated by Rumky Farhana, senior program officer of Article 19 Bangladesh and South Asia, in light of the insights and inputs taken from several other activities and initiatives taken by Article 19 and FPU.

Hans Nieuwenhuijse, senior program coordinator of Free Press Unlimited (FPU) was present in person and joined the discussion with the experience of FPU in Bangladesh.

Senior Journalist and Editor of Daily Amader Notun Shomoy Naimul Islam Khan said, "Bangladeshi Journalists face physical and legal threats, and no majority percentage of media houses have no proper insurance coverage to combat these challenges. We can take the idea and good experiences already implementing this."

Ayesha Kabir, head of the English version of Prothom Alo online, said, "It will be of highest benefit if we get an expert insurance consultant or specialist who might guide and suggest us to avail appropriate Insurance packages as per our need."

Shafiqul Alam, the bureau chief of Agency France-Presse (AFP), said, "We should incorporate the Insurance companies in the discussion about initiating short-term insurance packages as per customised needs."

Among the others, Sajjad Sharif, executive editor of the daily Prothom Alo, Ashish Ur Rahman, special correspondent; SM Akash, head of news of Deepto Television; Israt Jahan Urmi, senior correspondent of DBC News, also shared her experience. 

There were also Taufiq Hasan, reporter Kaler Kontho; Jubair Ahmed, reporter from Bangla Tribune, and Imdadul Asad from Radio Today, among others.

The concern of not having a salary on time, having no job security, and a culture of fear came out of the discussion as a major concern during the discussion along with the 'dream expectation of having insurance packages', and everyone was in solidarity with the endeavour of enhancing the safety mechanisms where Article 19 and Free Press Unlimited ensured to continue the effort to work for bringing positive changes throughout the joint collaboration.

Lack of safety and security, no protection policy or safety mechanism, insurance policy, termination policy implemented in most of the media houses, lack of safe environment for women journalists, less implementation of the wage board, lack of logistics support and safety equipment from media houses, etc came out in the discussion as obstacles and challenges for the journalists, particularly women journalists at the session.