The Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), with Support from UNMISS’ human rights division, on Wednesday, concluded a two-day training for 30 journalists from various Juba-based media houses in ethics and human rights reporting.
Speaking during the closing of the workshop yesterday, UJOSS President Patrick Oyet Charles said the training will enable journalists to update their skills in reporting human rights issues.
“Things change, laws change and situations change and therefore you need to always update yourselves,” Oyet advised. “As journalists, the biggest tool that we have is to build our capacity to always get better.”
The UJOSS preside also urged the partners to help the union with more funds to roll out similar pieces of training across the country.
“We also urge our partners to grant us more support so that we can move across the country as our colleagues in the states are asking us to reach out to them and do similar training,” Oyet appealed. “We are ready to do so and we hope before the year ends, we will visit at least two to three states to take capacity building to them.”
The Media Authority Director-General, Sapana Abuyi, thanked UJOSS for organizing the training and advised the journalists to always upgrade their skills.
“I thank UJOSS for organizing this important workshop and my advice to all journalists is to always attend such media training workshops because media is a profession that has a lot in it,” Abuyi said. “You must make sure that you keep your profession updated with the information that is there and you must always build your capacity.”
For his part, Denis Chenwi, UNMISS’ human rights officer, pledged that they will continue to partner with the UJOSS to develop the capacity of journalists.
“UNMISS believes this two-day training on ethics and human rights reporting has provided UJOSS the platform to equip journalists with the knowledge, skills, and networking opportunities to ensure greater professionalism and accuracy in human rights reporting while carrying out their duties,” Chenwi said.
He said the UNMISS human rights division and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will continue to provide technical assistance and capacity-building support to UJOSS and its members.
“We are looking forward to organizing similar capacity-building activities both in Juba and in the States,” he added.