The Center at #41 Main Motor Road

Since its founding, the International League for Human Rights has worked to both keep human rights at the forefront of international affairs, and give meaning and effect to the values enshrined in human rights treaties and conventions.

The League's mission for 58 years has been defending individual human rights advocates who have risked their lives to promote the ideas of a just and civil society in their homelands. ILHR sponsors these representatives and advocates of regional non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in order to promote their concerns in the international forum. Together with partners and affiliates abroad, the League assists in organizing local and international human rights campaigns, promotes advocacy, and mounts appeals.

The League's Africa Program operates primarily in conflict and post-conflict countries, as well as in countries in democratic transition, and intervenes on issues such as:

• the impact of recent implementations of Sharia on Nigerian women's rights, and the resultant consitutional crisis
• the human rights and media crises in Liberia
• children in armed conflict in Sierra Leone and Liberia

The staff of C-MET

Center for Media, Education and Technology

The Center for Media, Education & Technology was established in June 2000 by Ms. Kakuna Kerina, ILHR's Africa Program Director, and Mr. David Tam-Baryoh, career journalist and C-MET Executive Director. The Center will serve as a resource for Sierra Leonean media professionals, indigenous NGOs, and civil society institutions. Like the International League for Human Rights, C-MET is a nonprofit institution supported through funding received from nonprofit foundations.

Initially, C-MET was established to promote the use of journalism as a source for positive change. By providing the independent media of Sierra Leone with professional skills enhancement training, new technology, and technical support and training, the League's and C-MET hoped to initiate a democratic spirit of community reporting that would play a small part in reinvigorating a nation devastated by civil war. Over the course of its first few months, the Center's original mission was expanded, as the potential benefits to institutions other than simply the Sierra Leonean media became apparent.

This expanded mission is reflected in the League's and C-MET's media and new technologies projects which were officially launched in December 2000. As summarized below, the League and C-MET are committed to providing and/or supporting:

Subsidized Internet access for media professionals and staff of local NGOs Technical capacity building for a variety of institutions (media, civil and NGO) Rehabilitation of the national media infrastructure (print and radio media) Professional skills enhancement training for media professionals, including computer- assisted research and reporting An Internet cyber cafe, for use both as a workshop and training center, and for use by the general public during soon-to-be-established hours A central website for the media of Sierra Leone at www.cmetfreetown.org which will allow local newspapers and radio stations to publish and broadcast online, side-by-side; this website is scheduled for launch in March 2001 Community-based radio presence(s) Capacity building and strengthening of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) and Guild of Newspaper Editors (GNE) Research and publication of reports on the media and related issues

•  Hands-on training for human rights NGOs on the use of the Internet and electronic mail for advocacy purposes

The League/C-MET Media Project Update: In October 2000, the League and C-MET secured a four-room office for the 275-member Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) and the 15-member Guild of Newspaper Editors (GNE).

Once the League and C-MET had established it's temporary office, we immediately conducted a survey of the print media both to determine the number and capacity of Sierra Leone media organizations, and to assess their development in the time since the invasion of Freetown by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) / Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in January 1999.

Having completed the Directory of the Sierra Leone Print Media, we launched a radio monitoring project to assess citizens' radio listening habits, 85% of whom are illiterate and are, consequently, more dependent on the radio for information, rather than print publications. It is hoped that the Sierra Leone Radio Monitoring Report is a project that will be implemented on a quarterly basis in the future. Both the Directory of the Sierra Leone Print Media and the Radio Monitoring Report comprise the first ever concerted efforts to research and assess the Sierra Leone media.

In early November, official outreach initiatives were launched to familiarize media professionals, government officials, UNAMSIL, British Forces, and the local and international NGO community with the League's and C-MET's upcoming projects. Meetings were held with the executives of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) and the Guild of Newspaper Editors (GNE), and a press conference was also held on November 15, 2000 to convey this information to the general public.

In December 2000, a 40-foot container was sent to Sierra Leone containing computer packages (one desktop computer, scanner and printer per package), office furniture (chairs, desks, file cabinets, bookshelves, and cupboards), and books that were distributed to the following sixteen Freetown-based media (and one cultural) institutions:

New offices of the SLAJ at #31 Garrison Street

For di People
AWOKO
Concord Times
PUNCH
Pioneer
Democrat
Unity Press
Vision
Standard Times
Monitor
Independent Observer
Voice of the Handicapped FM. 96.2
Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS)
Radio Democracy FM.98.1
Guild of Newspaper Editors (GNE)
Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ)
Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA)
National Museum of Sierra Leone

Future projects scheduled for implementation in 2001 include initiatives supporting legal and judicial reform, and capacity building for legal professionals, the judiciary, and for higher education and cultural institutions. Responses to the League's/C-MET's Achievements SLAJ president Ibrahim Tayyib Bah wrote, "After thirty years of existence, we now have an address to be identified, and to be contacted by friends and members."

In a visit to the newly-acquired SLAJ offices, Nigerian High Commissioner, H.E. Polycarp Azigie, said, "Whoever obtained this office for you has given a professional identity to your association."

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) representative George Sarpong stated, "This center is long overdue, you are in a better position to handle your own media and development programs."

West African Journalists Association (WAJA) President Kabral Blay-Amihere was especially interested in the League and C-MET's future plans for program initiatives supporting educational and cultural institutions in the country.

SLENA journalists

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) representative Tim Gospil stated that, historically, it had been very difficult for international journalist organizations to contact and collaborate with colleagues in Sierra Leone, but with the League and C-MET now established as a local contact and resource center, many common goals could be achieved.

Journalists were overwhelmed that assistance materialized at a time when it was so desperately needed. Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA) Managing Director Mr. Abdul Karim Jalloh said, "When we first heard of the arrival of the container of technological items for the media in Sierra Leone, we in the government media such as SLENA and SLBS had counted ourselves out. But we have been proved wrong."

Mrs. Gina Banda-Thomas, Director of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS), said, "This has never happened before in this country-for an NGO to treat the independent and state owned media on the same footing in terms of help. The meaning of this is many-fold."

Contact Information For more information about the League's and C-MET's Sierra Leone projects, contact:

Kakuna Kerina, Africa Program Director
International League for Human Rights
823 United Nations Plaza, Suite 717,
New York, N.Y. 10017
Tel: 212-661-0480 ext. 103; Fax: 212-661-0416
e-mail: kkerina@ilhr.org
website: www.ilhr.org

David Tam-Baryoh, Executive Director
Center for Media, Education & Technology
P.O. Box 267, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Tel: 232-22-234030, 233774, 234042, 234033
Fax: 234034
e-mail: c-met@sierratel.sl
website: www.cmetfreetown.org