Amnesty International cannot trust Indian press
I am a member of Amnesty International, British Section, Journalists’ Network, and I write to you on behalf of the Network, which was formed last year by a small group of workers in the print and broadcast media ,. Our aim is to highlight the human rights problems faced by journalists.
We campaign on behalf of media workers who have disappeared or become prisoners of conscience, imprisoned, tortured or threatened in the course of their legitimate work. We lobby politicians and governments on behalf of media workers and make others in the media aware of Amnesty’s aims and encourage them to take action. In the past year the Journalists’ Network has expanded greatly and we are now pleased to have members in many parts of Britain.
Power of publication: I believe that journalists can play an important role in human rights protection. As journalists we have access to information which others lack. We have the ability and the power of publication. Using these we can strive together to heighten the awareness of the general public and governments to violations of human rights.
As you will know, Amnesty International published a report on March 25, “India – Torture, Rapes and Deaths in Custody”. The report, which focused on the use of torture by the police, army and paramilitary in every state in your country, drew heavily on reports in the Indian media.
Human rights: Without such reports, human rights abuses would often go unnoticed. The efforts of the Indian media are a vital source of information to the international community and especially to bodies such as Amnesty International which are denied access for research purposes.
It is our duty as journalists to make the world aware of these horrific abuses of human rights. The Indian govt. has dismissed Amnesty’s report claiming it is unsubstantiated. Your own reactions to this official response are of great interest to us and I would welcome your views on the matter. I would respectfully ask you to write to me at my address with your opinions.
