The International Federation of Journalists and the actions of the Middle East and Arab World Office

The International Federation of Journalists is the largest international organization of journalists, representing more than six hundred thousand media professionals in 187 Syndicates and Associations from 146 country around the world. The Federation is the organization that speaks for journalists within the United Nations system and within the global Syndicates movement. It was established in 1926 in Paris, re-established again in 1946, and stabilized in its current form after its third re-establishment in 1952.

The IFJ seeks to act and move on an international level to defend the freedom of press and social justice through strong, free, and independent unions of journalists. Also, The IFJ leads a collective movement to support journalists' syndicates in their fight for fair wages and appropriate working conditions and to defend their labor rights. In addition, the IFJ does not adopt a particular political direction, it promotes human rights, democracy, and diversity.

The IFJ opposes all forms of discrimination and condemns the use of the media for the purposes of enticing or promoting fanaticism, intolerance and conflict. The Federation also believes in freedom of political and cultural expression and defends union actions and other basic human freedoms, as well as fights for gender equality in all of its structures, policies and programs. The Federation provides its support to journalists and their unions whenever they defend their labor and professional rights, in addition to establishing an international fund for occupational safety, which provides humanitarian support to journalists in need.

The policy of the IFJ was approved by the General Conference "The Congress", which is convened once every three years. The secretariat of the Federation monitors the implementation of the actions program under the guidance of the elected Executive Committee. The last General Conference was held in Tunis in June 2019.

The Middle East and Arab World Office of the IFJ supports 21 syndicates, unions and associations of journalists in the region. The Federation maintains close cooperation with major regional organizations in order to be able to defend and promote the social and professional rights of journalists in the best possible way. Over the past twenty years, more journalists have been killed in the region than any other region around the world, making it the most dangerous region for professional journalists, which puts the occupational safety of journalists and combating impunity at the top of the Federation’s program of actions in the region, which in turn led the Federation to launch a long-term regional campaign, including an extensive training program to promote the culture of occupational safety in the media sector.

The IFJ and its Syndicate members in the region continue to fight for the right of journalists in the region to work in safe conditions. Freedom of the press and editorial independence are considered equally important issues, and in this context, the IFJ is leading a large consortium which includes Syndicates, media institutions, national human rights institutions, civil society organizations, and regional and international organizations, to accelerate the reform of the media sector and to promote independent and qualitative journalism, through working to drive the countries to adopt the declaration of the freedom of Media in the Arab world.