REFUGEE REPORTING
Conflict, disease and a number of other factors displace millions of people on an annual basis, resulting in families being torn apart and homes being lost forever.
Among the millions of people forced from their homelands are journalists. Often carried along in waves of mass displacement, journalists generally face the same challenges while trying to secure the basic needs for themselves and their families as they relocate.
However, certain journalists are not displaced as a result of conflict and are instead targeted by regimes, individuals or groups intent on stifling free expression and controlling the flow of information.
Many have experienced grave security issues in their home countries and have reached the point where escape is their only option.
So while many journalists have been forced from countries such as Syria and Iraq because of the ongoing conflict, others have fled on an individual basis after being threatened, harassed or attacked.
Life under “humiliation”
One such journalist is Jon Kalume. Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) spoke to Kalume a prominent journalist and activist based in Kampala, Uganda from where he runs the Freedom and Rights Initiative which offers assistance to exiled journalists.
Kalume, himself forced to leave his homeland of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because of his work, now coordinates advocacy and assistance efforts for other exiled journalists in Uganda.
"The reports I wrote forced me to leave my beautiful home country,” he said, adding “as result of my work I was threatened, persecuted and tortured, then I escaped death threats and fled to Uganda as an asylum-seeker.”
“No mouth can be satisfied when it’s a foreign hand which nourishes it and nobody can be happy outside his home, but you need to take courage and sometimes forget the past and look to build the future.
However, the immediate challenges of life in exile cannot be ignored.
“Living in exile is not easy. Integration is a challenge, but you also have the cost of living which has forced many refugees to return to their home countries, where some have been killed.
“You cannot live as a citizen, you feel like you are living under the word “humiliation” and every day you are traumatised due to the situation you are facing."
Kalume explained that keeping in touch with family members is very difficult and can lead to further security problems,
“Many of us use Facebook which remains a good means to communicate,” he says. However, he noted that difficulties can emerge if “spies” gain access to your social media accounts.
Kalume continues to campaign for his and his fellow exiled journalists’ needs, but his main hope for the future is to relocate “anywhere outside Uganda where I will be free and where I will enjoy democracy as other citizen of the world are enjoying it."
“Terrifying experience”
Godwin Agaba is a journalist from Rwanda, who was forced to leave his home country when he was publicly accused by the country’s Prime Minister of being responsible for grenade attacks in 2010.
He relocated to Kampala, but faced serious security issues. His colleague Charles Ingabire, with whom he was staying at the time, was killed, and Godwin himself was attacked and left for dead.
DCMF assisted Godwin, and he has now been relocated to the US. However, speaking to him now, it becomes clear that life in exile continues to pose difficulties.
“Fleeing into exile is a terrifying experience. Some of the accompanying events and circumstances are anticipated, as the new place, new language, new culture, even new weather systems, not surprisingly, make life challenging,” Godwin told DCMF.
“Most journalists in exile are refugees who had been subjected to jail and torture because of what they wrote; yet, even in their relatively safe host countries, they still live in constant fear. The East-West dichotomy of the previous century no longer prevails, and democratic countries maintain relationships with dictatorial regimes for economic gain, even in the face of poor human rights records.
“Journalists in exile face the additional pressure of trying to protect their loved ones back at home. This is one of our biggest concerns,” he added.
Ongoing struggle
From the initial decision to leave their home country, exiled journalists face a constant battle to secure their basic needs. Often their first port of call offers a limited level of protection and refuge and they are faced with the numerous challenges associated with attempting to secure refugee status and relocation. However, the struggle does not end there, and acclimatisation in their new environments can also present exiled journalists with difficulties. However, the main factors which tend to unite refugees in their struggle are the desire to return home whenever safety conditions allow, and a commitment to their work; work which has often landed them in the trouble they now face.