By Rebecca Ekpe
The 7th African Women in Media Conference, AWiM23 has concluded in Kigali, Rwanda, with the adoption of the Kigali Declaration, a framework on the Elimination of Gender Violence in and through Media in Africa.
It was a defining moment as hundreds of Women in Media, from Academia, Civil Society among others, raised their voices in support of a document that was not only put together for the media, but by people who work within the media space.
‘’This is indeed a historic moment and you must all be proud of yourselves to be part of this,’’ says Dr. Yemisi Akimbobola, Co-Founder and CEO of African Women in Media. Her vision is that the Kigali Declaration will traverse continents.
The Kigali Declaration, in principle, includes, but not limited to, the following:
✔ Media coverage of violence against women and girls should follow gender-ethical principles.
✔ Media portrayal and representation of survivors and victims of gender-based violence should be fair, balanced, unbiased and free of gender stereotypes.
✔ Media organizations should increase ethical coverage of all forms of violence against all women and girls regardless of ethnicity, class, ability and other distinctions.
✔ Media organisations and all industry bodies should establish guidelines on all forms of coverage of content on violence against women and girls. They should provide training to foster meaningful implementation and monitoring of the guidelines.
✔ Media organizations, associations and unions should address and combat sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women in the physical and online media workplace.
