Yemen: Journalists’ safety must be a priority, reiterates IFJ.

Taiz-More than 160 Yemeni journalists and media workers were trained on occupational safety as part of a one-year project implemented by the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) with the support of UNESCO and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). It was designed to enhance journalists’ protection. The IFJ praises the projects’ results, but emphasises that more needs to be done to make journalists’ safety a priority in Yemen, where a ten-year long conflict is permeating all the aspects of citizens’ lives, including the journalistic community.The eighth and last training session on occupational safety for journalists was attended by twenty leaders from media and journalistic institutions on 31 October in Taiz, southwest of the country. The conclusions of the session pointed at the need to develop a specific safety protocol focusing on psychological support, occupational safety tools and risk assessments for journalists working in Yemen.Furthermore, participants recommended the establishment of groups that offer psychological support for media workers; the integration of occupational and digital safety into the safety curriculum in the country’s universities that teach media studies, among others.