@kabeeryousef –
The past four days witnessed the capital city hosting some of the journalists from different continents discussing, debating, brainstorming and networking with fellow journalists thus connecting ideas across geographical borders.
Nearly 350 journalists associated with newspapers, TV, radio and news agencies from more than 100 countries were in the capital city for the biggest event.
The four-day ‘Summit of the Scribes’, the 31st International Conference of Journalists ‘Congress’ of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) organised by the Omani Journalists Association (OJA) at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Center, began by paying homage to Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American reporter who was shot and killed in the West Bank, and concluded by raising demand for the rights of captivate journalists and media workers who are facing trials across the planet.
Side by side, new board of directors to the IFJ was elected with Badali (French Dominique) as the president and Zuliana Linz (Republic of Peru) was re-elected as vice-president.
Nasser Abu Bakr (Palestinian) and Sabina Inderjeet (Indian) won the position of the second vice-presidents of the federation. Jim Boumelha (British) is the Treasurer of the federation.
Dr Muhammad bin Mubarak al Araimi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Omani Journalists Association, won the membership in the executive committee of the IFJ.
Dr Abdullah bin Nasser al Harrasi, Minister of Information, paid a visit to the convention centre and greeted the new members and stressed the importance of meetings with officials of international organisations.
“Through these meetings, various aspects of media and professional development can be exchanged, which is in the interest of developing the media system in general and sports in particular, and forming a solid base of skilled sports media practitioners to work in a sector considered one of the most prominent sectors of youth and sports with direct community interaction,” the minister said.
The minister also met with Gianni Merlo, president of the International Sports Press Federation at the ministry in the presence of Salem bin Hamad a Jawhari, Vice-President of the Omani Journalists Association and Vice-President of the Asian Federation of Journalists (AFJ), Salem bin Salim al Habsi, President of the Gulf Sports Media Federation, and Ahmed al Kaabi, a member of the Executive Office of the Asian Sports Media Association, and discussed aspects of joint cooperation in the field of developing sports media in the Sultanate of Oman, as well as attracting a number of international sports events to be held in the Sultanate of Oman during the coming period.
The financial and administrative report prepared by the treasury of the federation addressed the direct and indirect effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in some layoffs and concluded that it has affected some offices and media institutions around the world. Also, the pandemic had caused a decrease in the activities and pace of various projects of the IFJ as a result of closures and ban on travel.
Jennifer Robinson, a human rights lawyer working with the IFJ, who has adopted the defence case of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the incident of her assassination by Israeli soldiers while doing her job, expressed concern about some practices that journalists are exposed to and which endanger their lives.
Robinson also presented a letter of solidarity with journalist Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who is facing several charges related to publishing thousands of American military documents. She expressed her full solidarity with Assange and underlined the need to intervene to save him from deportation and trial.
On Friday, the closing day of the Congress, the names of the winners of the federation’s membership were announced, and a number of proposals were discussed along with the final speech of the president of the IFJ and a meeting of the executive committee of the IFJ was held.