Jailed journalist awarded/ Honoring disabled kids

Early last month, Crispin C. Maslog, noted Filipino journalist and Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication consultant, attended the World Press Freedom Day conference in San Jose, Costa Rica when the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano Prize was awarded to jailed journalist Reevot Alemu. The widow of Cano, Ana Maria Busquets, presented the award. Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla and UNESCO Director General Iria Bokova were guest speakers. Alana Barton of the International WomenÕs Media Foundation accepted the award on behalf of Alemu, who is still in jail.

Cris, impressed by the courage and grit of Reevot, wrote an article that I am printing in my column. Here it is: ÒEthiopian journalist Reevot Alemu, branded a terrorist by her country and languishing behind bars for two years now, won the prestigious 2013 UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for Ôexceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.Õ

ÒThe Prize was announced on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day May 3, 2013 and celebrated by some 400 journalists, media workers, journalism activists and civil society allies in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Prize is given every year during World Press Freedom Day.

ÒReevot Alemu is one of many journalists who have been harassed in her country for being critical about political and social issues, particularly poverty and gender issues.

ÒAfter working for several media, she founded in 2010 her own publishing house and a monthly magazine called Change, both of which were shuttered by government.

ÒIn June 2011, while working as a columnist for Feteh, a national weekly newspaper, Alemu was arrested. She is currently serving a Þve-year sentence in Kality prison.

ÒThe UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997 by UNESCO to honor the Columbian journalist who was assassinated on Dec. 17, 1986 at the entrance to the ofÞce of El Espectador, in Bogota, where he had served as editor since the age of 27.

ÒThe newspaperÕs building was destroyed in a bomb attack three years later. Guillermo CanoÕs killers have gone unpunished to this day. Cano was a victim of drug trafÞcking maÞas, whom he fearlessly denounced.

ÒÕWhat makes Alemu exceptional are her commitment to work for independent media when the prospect of doing so became increasingly dangerous, her refusal to self-censor in a place where that practice is standard, and her unwillingness to apologize for truth-telling, even though contrition could win her freedom,Õ the Prize Jury said.

ÔÕÕ In jail, the Prize Jury continued, ÔAlemu was offered clemency if she agreed to testify against journalist colleagues. She refused and was sent to solitary conÞnement for 13 days as punishment for her failure to cooperate. She is currently being kept at Kality prison, which is known for its Þlthy conditions.Õ

ÒIn April 2013 she underwent surgery to remove a tumor from her breast, after which she was returned to jail before she could fully recover.

ÒÓI believe that I must contribute something to bring a better future,Õ Alemu said in an interview. ÒSince there are a lot of injustices and oppressions in Ethiopia, I must reveal and oppose them in my articles.Õ Alemu said one of her ÔprinciplesÕ is Ôto stand for the truth, whether it is risky or not.ÕÓ

Cris writes that of the 16 laureates since the Prize was started in 1997, eight have been women. The Þrst laureate was a woman journalist from China, Gao Yu.

* * * Societies generally discriminate against children with disabilities (CWDs). UNICEFÕs annual State of the WorldÕs ChildrenÕs Report notes that

concentrating on these children’s abilities and potential instead of on their disabilities will benefit societies as a whole.

“When you see the disability before the child, it is not only wrong for the child, but it deprives society of all that child has to o®er,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake at the launch of the report recently. “Their loss is society’s loss; their gain is society’s gain.”

In the Philippines, census data showed that in 2002 there were 201,896 reported CWDs, and that 2.9 percent of the Filipino population had some form of disability. Vision- related disabilities recorded highest at 50 percent, followed by motor- related and mental ( both at 14 percent), and hearing ( 13 percent). The World Health Organization estimates 4.5 percent of the global population have disabilities.

For many children with disabilities, exclusion begins in the first days of life with their birth going unregistered, says the report. Lacking o¯cial recognition, they are cut o® from the social services and legal protections that are crucial to their survival and prospects. Their marginalization only increases with discrimination.

The State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities says that CWDs are the least likely to receive health care or go to school. They are among the most vulnerable to violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect, particularly if they are hidden or put in institutions Ñ as many are because of social stigma or the economic cost of raising them.

The combined result is that children with disabilities are among the most marginalized people in the world. Children living in poverty are among the least likely to attend their local school or clinic but those who live in poverty and also have a disability are even less likely to do so.

“We should see the wealth of ability that each child with disability has to offer, and enable them to engage and participate in their communities. If children remain uncounted in statistics and put away in institutions,

we will not be successful in being a truly inclusive society,” UNICEF Philippines Representative Tomoo Hozumi said.

About one third of the world’s countries have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( CRPD) yet. The Philippines is among the leaders in recognizing the rights of CWDs. It is one of the signatories of the CRPD. It also passed Republic Act No. 7610 in 1992 to protect children against all forms of abuse, exploitation, and discrimination. Its Child and Youth Welfare Code serves as a reference to reexamine Philippine laws and institutions, and promote changes to ensure that CWDs are guaranteed the same rights as all other children.

*** Many stories coming out in the Internet, show teenagers around the globe ending their lives because of their being bullied by schoolmates.

Bullying is described as “any severe or repeated use of written, verbal, or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination of these by one or more students directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in a reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to the property, creating a hostile environment at school and Infringing on the rights of the other students at school.”

It’s gratifying to know that Congress recently passed into law the bill pushing for schools to enforce antibullying policies. Otherwise known as House Bill 5496 or the Anti- Bullying Act of 2012, this bill aims to provide parents with important information about bullying. The bill was endorsed by Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III, chairman of the House committee on basic education and culture, with Caloocan Rep. Mary Mitzi Cajayon as one of its authors.