Final statement of the meeting of the General Secretariat of the Union, June 29-30, 2024.. Baghdad S

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[size=52]Final statement of the meeting of the General Secretariat of the Union, June 29-30, 2024.. Baghdad Statement[/size]

[size=45]General Federation of Arab Journalists
General Secretariat meeting in Baghdad on June 29 and 30 Baghdad
Statement
The General Secretariat of the General Federation of Arab Journalists met in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, at the kind invitation of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate on June 29 and 30, 2024, at the headquarters of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, headed by Mr. Mu'ayyad Al-Lami, President of the Federation. The members of the General Secretariat attended, and the Chairman of the Freedoms Committee, the Federation's Advisor, and the Secretary-General of the International Federation of Journalists participated in these meetings. The meeting agenda included organizational, political, and professional issues.
On this occasion, the attendees at the beginning of the work expressed their thanks and gratitude to the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate for the generous hospitality and warm reception, and their great appreciation to the Prime Minister of Iraq and the Iraqi government, and they highly appreciate the decision of His Excellency the Prime Minister of Iraq to approve the allocation of a residential area for the benefit of Iraqi journalists, and also their great pride in the participation of their fellow Iraqi journalists, both male and female, in the celebrations of the Iraqi Press Day, which commemorates the 155th anniversary of the issuance of the first Iraqi newspaper, and is an occasion to recall the great and significant roles that the Iraqi media has contributed throughout the history of this great country, which everyone attests to its great leadership in many political, cultural and scientific fields. The attendees expressed their firm belief that the Iraqi media will continue the path of giving with all the professionalism it is known for, in a way that ensures its effective and positive contribution to consecrating the unity and strength of Iraq and the endeavor of its noble people towards further development and progress. The members of the General Secretariat of the Union stopped at the great sacrifices made by fellow Iraqi journalists, both male and female, in order to establish unity and Iraq's independence, which preserves the rights and legitimate aspirations of its people. On this occasion, the members of the Secretariat stood with appreciation and reverence before the souls of the heroic martyrs of Iraqi journalists who were targeted by treachery, especially during the period of cleansing the proud land of Iraq from the remnants of terrorists.
After extensive discussions and deep deliberations that took place within an atmosphere of responsibility and maturity, it was agreed to issue the Baghdad Statement:
On the political level,
the meetings of the General Secretariat of the Union encountered delicate and difficult circumstances that pose great challenges to the entire world, due to the Zionist occupation continuing to commit its heinous crimes that international judicial, political and media circles unanimously classified as a real war of genocide and crimes against humanity and a serious violation of all international legal and human rights sources, from international treaties and agreements on human rights and international legitimacy. And with blatant collusion with the forces of evil in the world, especially on the part of many Western countries that have claimed for many eras their commitment to human rights issues and have exercised violent guardianship over many countries of the world on human rights issues.
Despite the issuance of a clear and explicit resolution by the UN Security Council calling for an end to the war in steadfast Gaza, and despite the unanimity of the International Court of Justice on the same resolution, and despite the position of the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court who promised to refer a request to the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity and his Minister of Defense, and despite the massive uprisings that swept various countries of the world demanding an end to this despicable war, the Israeli occupation did not care about all of that and continued to challenge the world by insisting on continuing to commit its terrorist crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, and in all Palestinian territory, which revealed to the entire world the great fragility of international legitimacy and the agencies responsible for it, and exposed the dealing of some Western countries with human rights issues with multiple measures related to their strategic and economic interests, and therefore it is no longer possible to talk now about any credibility of these parties that qualifies them to seek to establish rights and legitimacy.
The General Union of Arab Journalists expresses its disapproval of the cowardly positions of many international organizations that have burdened the world with slogans defending human rights and confronting all forms and manifestations of violations and abuses affecting these rights, while they have taken refuge in silence in these delicate, difficult and dangerous circumstances for the future of humanity. The Union also expresses its astonishment at the hesitation of other circles in confronting the crimes of the Zionist occupation and defending the right of the Palestinian people to their legitimate right to life, as is the case with the European Parliament.
On the other hand, the Union confirms that many Western media outlets have cast aside all conditions of true professional practice, turned their backs on them and sided with the criminals, and were not ashamed of committing bias, obfuscation and fabricating false news.
In return, the General Union of Arab Journalists commends the courageous positions of the International Federation of Journalists towards the Zionist aggression on Gaza.
In this regard, the General Union of Arab Journalists decided to send urgent messages to international human rights organizations and hold them fully responsible for their failure to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and call for an end to the aggression. It also urged continued coordination with the International Federation of Journalists, and the establishment of a digital media platform in multiple international languages ​​to expose the crimes of the enemy and defend the heroic Palestinian people. It also urged the activation of the financial support fund for Palestinian journalists, especially for the families of the martyrs among them, and called on the Arab journalistic organizations that are members of the Union to organize activities that include various forms of financial, media and professional support for fellow journalists in steadfast Palestine. It calls for an actual contribution to the treatment of wounded and injured Palestinian journalists.
The General Secretariat of the General Union of Arab Journalists expresses its pride and honor in the pioneering roles played by Palestinian journalists, and prays for the souls of the martyrs who watered the steadfast land of Palestine with their pure blood, and for the souls of the martyrs of Lebanese journalists who were targeted by the hands of Zionist terrorism while performing their professional duty. He strongly condemns the Zionist attacks on Syrian territory.
On the other hand, the General Union of Arab Journalists is following with great concern the recent developments in some Arab countries, especially in Yemen, where Yemeni journalists are being targeted for murder, the latest of whom was our colleague Mohammed Shabita, a member of the leadership of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and a member of the General Secretariat of the General Union of Journalists, who was subjected to a serious assassination attempt, and is currently in a critical health condition. The Union has decided to continue to follow it closely. In the same context, the General Union renews its firm position in support of legitimacy in Sudan and the Sudanese people who are facing harsh and dangerous conditions resulting from the war taking place there, which has brought the situation in Sudan to extremely dangerous levels of mass displacement, poverty and severe shortages of livelihoods, including food, health, security and stability. While the Union calls for an immediate end to this war within the framework of the legitimacy of institutions and national dialogue between political parties, it affirms its absolute and unconditional support for Sudanese journalist colleagues who have paid a high price for performing their national duty, whether through direct targeting to silence their voices or through displacement, homelessness and loss of their jobs and livelihoods. The Union mourns the souls of colleagues who lost their lives. The Union announces its welcome of all efforts to support Sudanese journalists, especially with regard to establishing a support fund. The Union also affirms its responsible follow-up of the situation of journalists and freedom of the press and expression in Tunisia. The Union demands the immediate release of detained Tunisian journalists, and in this regard affirms its full support for the struggles of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists and declares its absolute and unconditional solidarity with it.
The Union renews its firm positions regarding the establishment of all aspects of national sovereignty in Arab countries and their national independence and its rejection of all forms and manifestations of separation and division. In this regard, it affirms its full support for the unity of the Moroccan national territory in the face of the externally supported secession conspiracy. It also stresses the unity of Libya and the independence of its national decisions and calls for the need to accelerate the agreement on a national constitution and the establishment of representative and executive institutions on the basis of free and fair elections. He pointed out that the political situation there casts a shadow over the conditions of the press and journalists.
At the organizational level, the meeting welcomed the request of the Qatari Press Center to join the Union to become a full member, and approval was given in principle to accept this membership and present it to the Permanent Bureau during its next meeting for ratification. The General Secretariat also expressed its congratulations to the new Arab deans who were elected by their bodies in their recent conferences, namely the President of the National Union of Moroccan Journalists, the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate, the UAE Journalists Association, the Kuwaiti Journalists Association, and the Saudi Journalists Authority. On
the other hand, the General Secretariat of the Union extends its thanks and gratitude to His Excellency the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mr. Mustafa Madbouly, after he kindly allocated a new headquarters for the General Union of Arab Journalists in Cairo, in implementation of the directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as procedures are currently underway to transfer full ownership of this headquarters.[/size]
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