At the opening of the regional conference on the right to information in the Sahel, held on 27 October in Dakar as part of the International African Media Fair (SIMA), Mauritania, Liberia and Gambia formally endorsed the Declaration on the Right to Information in the Sahel. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hails this significant step forward and calls on other countries in the region to strengthen press freedom by adhering to the ten principles set out in the Declaration.
Thibaut Bruttin RSF Director-General: “In response to press freedom’s decline in the Sahel, we must do everything we can to continue protecting and cherishing journalism. As well as monitoring the press freedom situation and denouncing attacks on it, RSF offers solutions and hope, including by means of its Declaration on the Right to Information in the Sahel, which lays out ten essential principles, starting with an end to physical attacks targeting journalists. Solutions are on the table, and RSF remains available to state-sector actors who wish to discuss and advance press freedom in the region. Nature abhors a vacuum: where journalism disappears, disinformation and propaganda appear.”
In response to the decline in security in the Sahel – which includes physical violence, murders and kidnappings of journalists, entire areas becoming inaccessible to the press, threats to local media, and the spread of disinformation – RSF calls on the region’s governments to commit to defending reliable information by adhering to the ten principles of the Declaration on the Right to Information in the Sahel.
Through government representatives, three countries already undertook to support this declaration at the International African Media Fair (SIMA) that began on 27 October in Dakar, Senegal, in the presence of governmental and media actors from the region.
The three countries are Mauritania, through its Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, El Houssein Ould Medou, who is also government spokesman; The Gambia, through its Minister of Information, Ismaila Ceesay; and Liberia, through its Vice-Minister in charge of Information, Daniel Otis Sando.
The spokesman of the government of Mauritania, which is ranked 50th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index, said the declaration represents “a major step in reaffirming regional and international commitments to a free and credible media space.” Ismaila Ceesay, Minister of Information of The Gambia, ranked 58th in the World Press Freedom Index, said he “fully supports the declaration initiated by RSF.”
Regional conference for information
At the SIMA opening, RSF also highlighted the vital role played by community radio stations in the region, local media outlets to which RSF’s new documentary, Community radios: the fight to keep the Sahel informed, pays tribute. This film continues the call by RSF and 547 community radio stations for the protection and support of these local media outlets in the region. Until 30 October, RSF is organising a special event at SIMA entitled “CREDI-SAHEL,” a forum for communication between media stakeholders in the region.
This event is part of the “Save Journalism in the Sahel” campaign that RSF launched in 2022 with the aim of uniting and mobilising media actors, civil society, technical and financial partners, such as UNESCO and ECOWAS, and government representatives, and to step up activities designed to prevent the region from becoming a no-information zone.
Ten-point declaration
The ten pledges of the Declaration on the Right to Information in the Sahel are based on the principles for protecting journalists so that they are free to work and thereby fulfil their social function. Signatory countries must agree to do everything possible to:
- Recognise and guarantee the right to information defined by the International Declaration on Information and Democracy as “the freedom to seek, receive and access reliable information”;
- Allow journalists access dangerous areas, such as war zones, while providing for their safety when they do so;
- Ensure that the dissemination of news and information that serves the public interest, including information concerning military or security operations, is not interrupted;
- End impunity in relation to verbal and physical attacks against journalists and ensure that the perpetrators of such attacks are criminally prosecuted;
- Guarantee continuous access to the Internet, especially during periods of intense social activity such as elections or public demonstrations;
- Align laws and regulations in the field of electronic communications with the highest protective international standards for journalists’ freedom to report, and for the public’s right to information;
- Adopt laws on access to state-held information, in accordance with current international standards;
- Promote quality news reporting and reliable media outlets by recognising the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) as a benchmark;
- Support the establishment of a Sahel media support agency with a mandate to help protect press freedom and the right to information in the region, as well as local media independence and sustainability;
- Cooperate in good faith with relevant independent international and regional bodies, especially the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, with a view to implementing their recommendations.
