UN expert calls for improvements in Côte d'Ivoire's journalistic professionalism

Côte d'Ivoire should require professional conduct by journalists while working to replace printing equipment as well as radio and television stations destroyed during the country's civil conflict, a United Nations expert on freedom of expression said today.

Just back from a visit to Côte d'Ivoire, the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, said the open circulation of balanced opinions and ideas was still difficult because of "the lack of regulatory mechanisms which entail obligations, responsibility and discipline amongst newspapers publishers and editors."

"Without that mechanism, journalists have tended to write without conforming to their professional ethics and, for example, this has resulted in journalists and media workers, especially those close to the opposition and those working independently, to be often aggressed, both verbally and physically," he said.

Mr. Ligabo said he was deeply disturbed to learn that three journalists were beaten while covering a presidential event in the Ivoirian capital, Yamoussoukro. "I firmly invite the Government to bring this kind of incidents to an end," he said.

Above all, he emphasized that the Government should ensure that the proposed legislation on the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission and a Press Commission are enacted and implemented so that media and press associations can operate in a more organized and responsible manner.

The expert also stressed the need for professional training and financial investment in the press and broadcast industry, especially the replacement of installations destroyed during the conflict.

After bitter ethnic clashes in 2002, Côte d'Ivoire currently hosts French and West African peacekeeping forces, which are keeping the warring sides apart.

Mr. Ligabo said most Ivoirians he met, even though they might hold opposite political views, had great expectations for reconciliation, peace and democracy, showing a pressing need to discuss the country's future freely.