More than 70 journalists from nine Asia-Pacific countries attended the first safety conference for the news media in the region at the Manhattan Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia from 15 to 16 December 2008. The conference “Killing the Messenger: News Media in the Firing Line” was organized  by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) in partnership with the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD) with grants from the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) under the Media, Democracy and Development project.

A declaration issued during the conference urged governments to end impunity for killers of journalists. The participants then presented the so-called “Jakarta Declaration” to Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Nineteen (19) participants came from the Philippines including Commission on Human Rights Chair Leila de Lima, who was also the Keynote Speaker.

—

Cover photo:

Journalists interview a captured government soldier shortly before he was released by New Peoples Army rebels on May this year at Compostela Valley in Mindanao . Photo by Keith Bacongco