A group of journalists from the sub-region have challenged the Banjul-based pan-African rights body, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to “carry out an immediate and independent investigation into all pending cases of abuses, killings and disappearances of journalists on the continent.”

The challenge was part of “declarations” made by over 25 participants, drawn from the West African sub-region, who recently concluded a-three-day training works hop on “An Understanding of the African Human Rights System,” held at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Gambia.

The journalists further called for “the requisition of the state parties concerned to report any action they have taken on murder cases of journalists.

“That the African Commission should this year, 2008, declare an annual ‘African Press Day,’ during which certificates and awards be given for best practices, (like the day Dele Giwa was murdered in Nigeria).”

It was also declared that the commission should “consider the disadvantaged and less privileged people, such as women, children and other vulnerable groups of persons, who continue to suffer worst form of human rights abuses unimaginable on t he African continent.”

The program, organized by the commission’s secretariat, with funding from Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), dealt mainly with human rights journalism, focusing on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and the work of the African Commission.