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Threats, intimidation, arrests, prosecutions, denials of permits, rejection of interview requests, seizure of equipment and deportation – these are the tactics governments use to hinder media coverage of refugees. It is the biggest humanitarian crisis of the 21st century, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is investigating for World Refugee Day, 20 June 2018.
when Republic reporter Alessandro Puglia Submitted his story, which included Interview immigrants and describe their situation ‘Treated like animals’ He believes this will trigger an investigation into the center.
Although Italian judicial authorities did intervene, it was Puglia that became their target, not the center. The journalist who revealed how the center flouted the most basic rights of migrants was prosecuted for libel and was insulted and threatened on social networks. The trial is scheduled for October. Puglia said the worst, most “Unacceptable“The highlight of this episode is always encountering”Legal forms of intimidation“Aims to”Hindering journalists from doing their work.”
In the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France, which borders Italy, journalists covering immigration issues have to deal with another “legal form of intimidation”: that from the police.This is the only story where I faced so much harassment.The photographer said Laurent Carré Despite being a regional reporter for several French daily newspapers, including releasewho often writes stories related to the police.
Carré has lost count of the number of times he has had to show his press card and proclaim his “Right to film‘Police and refugees together on public highway’But the police told me the opposite was true.In January 2017, he even Being violently pushed to the ground by the military police A large police force had just arrived at the home of Cédric Herrou, a farmer who was being prosecuted for helping immigrants. At one point, a gendarme who recognized Carré told him:Sir, I suggest you stop reporting these news because you will get in trouble.”
Arrested while reporting
American Journalist Spencer Wolfe Faced with this problem. He has been shooting for the past few months A documentary protector He was arrested in June 2017 and held by police for 24 hours and 55 minutes on charges of assisting illegal immigration. The military police who arrested him were filmed by him while following some of the subjects of his documentary a few weeks ago.They knew full well that I was a journalist, but they interrogated me at length to get information about Cedric Elu.” He said.
Lisa GiacchinoMonthly Editor Age of doing thingswas arrested by the Border Police (PAF) in January 2017 while accompanying six Eritrean minors to the Alpes-Maritimes and was detained for ten hours.When the police informed them that they were detaining me, they did not deny that I was a journalist.” she wrote in an editorial.Hundreds of soldiers, gendarmes, police and judicial officials have been sent to the Alpes-Maritimes to search for migrants and harass those who help them or even those who take an interest in them.” the editorial concluded.
Behind the official goal of breaking up migrant smuggling networks, “They clearly want to hinder our reporting on the ground.“Freelance writer Raphael Kraft Kraft said. The Mediterranean border town of Ventimiglia, the refugee rescue ship Aquarius, and many stories about immigrants on the Alpine border and the Briançon region, He was arrested there in December 2017 and Caroline ChristinaSwiss daily reporter weather.
“But it’s not just the police that are stopping us from doing our job,” Kraft added.We are also blocked by municipalities and different state agencies who do not respond to our requests.He said: “In France and Italy, requests for interviews with officials directly involved in migration issues or authorization to enter refugee camps have never been successful. This is nothing new. “Open Access Now” 2012 election campaign, RSF Drawing attention to the fact that journalists are denied access to immigration detention centres Almost everywhere in Europe.
“Our society cannot do without media coverage of the migrant crisis, which is currently at the center of public debate in Europe and elsewheresaid Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary general.Reporting this story cannot be considered a crime. So why are journalists being detained, their equipment confiscated and access to refugee detention camps denied? Governments have an obligation and responsibility not to use security as a pretext to hinder news reporting and promote a rosy view of an often tragic reality.”
Reports show fundamental rights being violated
Reports on immigrationChallenge the legitimacy of the authorities’ actions,“Kraft said.Criminal abandonment, failure to rescue those in distress, refusal to recognize the rights of minors…they often live on the edge of the law.”
This is also a reporter Claire Billett and photographer Olivier Joubard They secretly crossed the borders of six countries in 2013. Reporting on five migrants’ journey from Kabul to ParisThe boat they were travelling on was intercepted near Greece. The boat’s engine was removed and it was pushed back into Turkish waters.”If we were identified as journalists, we would never have seen how the Greek Coast Guard was illegally repatriating refugees on a massive scale.”
When Bilet and Jobard were subsequently spotted by Turkish officials at the border, they were arrested, fined, deported, and banned from returning to Turkey for two years. Their deportation was justified. Four years later, After a sharp decline in media freedom in Türkiye After the July 2016 coup, Italian journalists Gabriel Del Grande Finally continue Hunger strike to leave detention center where he was held for two weeks Arrested while reporting on refugees at the Turkish-Syrian border.
Limiting reporting of shameful and inhumane realities
The situation is even worse outside Europe. Agadez, Niger, where migration routes from Guinea, Nigeria, Mali and Sudan meet, is “impossible to report firsthand”. Even people with press credentials are denied access to centres run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), even though “we know there are thousands of migrants there living in poor conditions and barely getting enough to eat”, Radio Cawson manager Ousmane Omaru explain.
In Libya, journalists now travel with fear to migrant detention centers, which have been controlled by Libyan militias since 2014. After a bureaucratic scramble to obtain the necessary permits, they arrive at a “The reality of the conditions suffered by immigrants is clearly obscured” and they must “The scene was filmed at the request of the militia.The news was revealed to Reporters Without Borders by a Libyan journalist who requested anonymity for security reasons.
Journalists abide by theOut of fear of retaliation.“They followed orders to shoot or stop shooting. In June 2015, the same journalistwas forced to cut short an interview with one migrant because he cried while describing inhumane detention conditions.Last year, he watched guards use force to stop a pregnant woman from coming to talk to him.
The Pacific Gulag’s Information Black Hole
Thousands of people detained while seeking international asylum are now locked away in a government-run news and information “black hole” away from cameras and microphones. Relocating detention centres to Pacific islandsAustralia has since successfully isolated these “Pacific gulags” from the media.
The remote Pacific island nation of Nauru is blocking media access by enacting a unique visa policy after allowing Australia to use a prison as an immigration detention centre. Visa application fee is up to 8,000 Euros Even if the visa is refused, which is usually the case, it will not be refunded. To further limit media attention, the Nauruan government found another radical solution: Block access to Facebook for three years.
Journalists are supposed to be banned from Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, Australia’s other major immigration detention center. But one of the asylum seekers being held there happens to be an Iranian Kurdish journalist. Behrouz Bouchaniwho has used the limited and expensive internet access available to detainees to report on the realities and consequences of Australia’s immigration policy since 2014. This is inside the centre, using TwitterFacebook and British media The reporter has been describing “Slow pain” often”Fear“Refugees are the victims of this incident”Sadistic prison system”
Internal reporting risks
For refugee journalists, reporting on the abuse of fellow refugees in detention centres or refugee camps can be dangerous. Abdul Hafez Hourania Syrian journalist from Homs who had lived in the Arsal refugee camp in eastern Lebanon since 2015, was arrested on May 24 this year and was detained and tortured for six days. During interrogation, he admitted that he was the head of the press office of the Syrian Prisoners Protection League and a member of the Take a moment, Vasyl A reporter for a news website, he reported thatAnything related to Syrian refugees in the Assal camp, including Lebanese army raids and frequent arrests,“The interrogators doubled down on his verbal abuse. He has been summoned for further questioning twice since his release and believes he is being followed and he fears for his life.
Minjaya U and Khun RatTwo Burmese journalists Reports of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing Bangladeshis are concerned about Myanmar journalists being sent to neighbouring Bangladesh, where authorities arrested them in September 2017 on suspicion of spreading “false information” and spying for Myanmar. Bangladesh’s suspicion stems from the fact that Myanmar is not supposed to let its journalists cross the border, let alone that Myanmar does not want them to cross the border. Writing about the atrocities that led to the Rohingya exodus.
By intimidating journalists covering refugee issues, some governments are not only trying to cover up their violations of international humanitarian law, but also to ensure that their questionable political decisions are ignored or even outright denied.
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