With the purpose of maintaining the safety of media personnel, the Seychelles Media Commission (SMC), in collaboration with the Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS), underwent a two-day training session on Access & Safety with twenty-one (21) media practitioners from various media houses in Seychelles.
The program, which spanned over the course of two weeks, from Monday 9th – Tuesday 10th September and from Monday 16th – Tuesday 17th September targeted a broad spectrum of media personnel, such as health and safety officers, journalists and presenters, operators of cameras, lights, and sound, and photographers offering participants the flexibility to attend the sessions according to their availability.
The Seychelles Media Commission (SMC) Chairperson, Mr. Ibrahim Afifi, inaugurated the training session on Monday 9th of September by focusing on journalist safety and emphasizing that “while elections in Seychelles have been peaceful thus far, the evolving landscape puts media practitioners at higher risk.” Looking at figures, Mr. Afif noted that globally, 116 media personnels have lost their lives in conflicts highlighting how important it is that journalists get their facts right while being mindful of their safety” especially due to the changing time.
The Secretary General of the RCSS, Marie-May Esparon, underlined the value of readiness, citing the upcoming national elections in 2025 as an example. “How prepared are you, and who will take care of you? There is a need for media professionals to be equipped for an increasingly complex media landscape mainly with natural calamities” she shared.
The importance of journalism safety programs—which help media practitioners, institutions, and stakeholders become aware with fundamental security ideas and provide a basis for operating in unsafe environments—was then elaborated upon by Tessa Henderson, a Journalist Safety trainer.
The first of the training’s two main focal areas looked at “IHL and the Seychelles’ domestic obligations under IHL”. This section provided a general introduction of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), looking at the protections afforded to journalists, and discussed Seychelles’ legal obligations under the IHL and how they relate to the rights and safety of media professionals in times of conflict or emergency.
The second focal area was “Safety and preparedness for Media Personnel,” which emphasized the personal accountability that media practitioners should assume in their place of employment in addition to equipping media organizations with the right resources to safeguard their employees through the creation and successful execution of SOPs. This also covered guidelines for deployment, personal safety, and holding active safety drills in order to get ready for risky situations or possible calamities.
Facilitators for the first day of the session included Sarah Mabeza, an expert in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with sixteen years of experience as a regional legal advisor who spoke about the IHL and the protection it provides to Journalists. Nichole Tirant-Gherardi, Ex Ombudsman and Legal Practitioner elaborated upon the Seychelles Constitution and the functions of the various institutions, as well as the rights and obligations of media practitioners, while Ms. Tessa Henderson discussed the significance of journalism safety whilst highlighting various experiences and scenarios which have occurred in the past that test journalism safety.
On the second day, participants were led into a talk by psychologist Mr. Dereck Meriton who spoke about psychological support and how media professionals can better look after their mental health as well as provided a range of scenarios media practitioners encounter on a daily basis and how to best tackle them. To end the session, the Secretary General of the RCSS explored the benefits and importance of having SOPs in place as well as how they can guide practitioners in the event of an emergency or disaster followed by group work with the participants looking at their own media houses’ SOPs, and answering questions based on dealing with disasters and emergencies.
The attendees of the training sessions conveyed their satisfaction with the initiative, adding that it broadened their knowledge and opened their eyes to the things that their individual media organizations were executing and what remains to be done. For the majority, the sessions served as a reminder to begin working on their SOPs and other initiatives, such as introducing psychosocial support into their workplaces. Alongside partners such as the Seychelles Police Force who attended during the second week, both parties were able to better understand how each operate and how to best work together in the future.
Moreover, the participants provided additional recommendations, such as accrediting journalists, running various exercises to evaluate their individual SOPs, setting up a local liaison desk for journalists, increasing collaboration and training, as well as the need to involve media house heads and decision makers in future sessions. In order to promote a safer environment for media practitioners, all of this feedback will be submitted to the relevant parties.
Prior to the initiative’s launch, media representatives from all Seychelles-based media outlets were invited to a meeting in June 2024 to go over the main points of the program, which was aimed at improving the safety procedures in the face of dynamic and occasionally hazardous situations on both a national and international scale.
Following the sessions, other trainings and workshops are expected to be organized in the near future to help media organizations create and update their disaster management plans by February 2025. This is with the goal of ensuring that participants contribute to the development of robust safety strategies within their respective media houses. To better prepare the media staff for all possibilities when working both in the office and on the field, additional trainings, specifically in First Aid, will be held.
Pictures below from the second week of the training:
