With UNESCO's support.. SADA launches a project on legal protection for Yemeni journalists
المنظمة الوطنية للإعلاميين اليمنيين صدى 
February 12, 2024 - Today, the National Organization of Yemeni Reporters (SADA) launched Dhmanj https://dhmanj.org, a project to ensure legal protection for journalists in Yemen, in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and funded by the UNESCO Global Media Defense Fund. In his opening speech, Mr. Yousef Hazeb, SADA’s President, thanked UNESCO for its trust in the organization, as well as Yemeni lawyers for taking on the responsibility of defending journalists and offering their services through this project. Mr. Hazeb explains “Lawyers play a pivotal role in protecting journalists, especially given the violations against them in Yemen. In recent years, Yemeni journalists have been killed and abducted, with some still being held captive and forcibly imprisoned by conflict parties in Yemen. We urge Yemeni parties to release those journalists and call on official judicial authorities to cooperate in providing protection for Yemeni journalists.” He highlighted the importance of coordination with professional and human rights organizations, considering it a strategic approach for the project. This includes forming a network of local and international institutions to protect journalists in Yemen. Mr. Hazeb called on international donor organizations and those interested in the legal protection of journalists to support the project and assist individual cases of journalists during legal proceedings and other legal matters. He emphasized that the project documents and monitors violations, compiling complete legal files that can be presented in court. In his official remarks, Dr. Mohammed Qizan, Deputy Minister of Information, expressed the ministry's readiness to cooperate with SADA in the legal protection of journalists. He emphasized the project's significance in protecting journalists from the risks they face amidst Yemen's current situation, and thanked UNESCO for supporting this project. On behalf of UNESCO, Ms. Farida Aboudan, Education Specialist, explained that this initiative is a continuation of the project launched by UNESCO, 2 years ago focusing on legal safety during which a coordination group had been created and several discussions were conducted with a group of 40 Yemeni lawyers from across the country. She highlighted that this project implemented by SADA is funded by the UNESCO Global Media Defense Fund and aims at ensuring safety of journalists through legal protection and in particular through the launch of an online platform that will provide direct legal assistance to journalists as well as access to legal resources. Ms. Aboudan mentioned “The project will also create a lawyers’ forum to facilitate exchange of expertise within the lawyer’s community and a support group. This is particularly important as during our past coordination meetings with lawyers in Yemen, the need and importance to have a national network of lawyers and coordination mechanism to ensure better protection for journalists and to exchange expertise and ensure mutual support was highlighted.” Expressing trust in SADA’s ability to advance the project towards more advanced paths and levels of service to Yemeni journalists, Ms. Aboudan added that “Through the project, SADA will ensure coordination with the different actors to contribute to ensure judicial follow-up, raise pressure to call for perpetrators accountability and contribute to fight impunity.” During the event, two working papers were presented: the first on providing legal support services to Yemeni female journalists, presented by lawyer Ms. Amal Mohammed, and the second regarding the project's services and mechanisms, presented by lawyer Ms. Lamis Al-Hamdi.
