By Aweye Teddy Onam
As South Sudan joins the rest of the world to mark World Press Freedom Day, the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) has called on stakeholders to guarantee freedom of expression for everyone as the country gears towards making a permanent constitution.
In a statement issued yesterday, AMDISS said freedom of expression is not limited to only journalists but to everybody in the society as the law entails.
“South Sudan is currently undergoing a transitional period that requires an open and transparent conversation over many aspects in the country including having a people’s driven constitution making and these calls for freedom of expression to be enjoyed as prescribed by law without prejudices,” said AMDISS in a statement seen by No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper.
The World Press Freedom Day was celebrated yesterday under the theme “shaping a future of Freedom of Expression and other human rights in South Sudan”.
The media advocacy body further urged all media houses in the country to keep the rules and regulations of high ethical standards in the discipline of journalism.
“We call upon all media houses and journalists to maintain the code of conduct and uphold a high ethical standard in the discipline of the journalism practice in South Sudan.”
The organization also called upon all media stakeholders especially government institutions with the mandate to protect human rights in South Sudan that it is the press freedom, independent, pluralistic and diverse media as a key to the enjoyment of all other human rights.
AMDISS is a media advocacy and training organization operating in South Sudan and it brings member media houses to advance press freedom, freedom of expression and access to information while building the capacity of journalists to report professionally.
World Press Freedom Day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly on 3rd May.
The day is observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind the governments of their duties to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of the Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African Newspaper Journalists in Windhoek 1991.