Is the punishment for journalists coming to an end? A deep insight to the status of the SOCHUM committee

By JUAN DIEGO GARCÍA, THE PEOPLE’S DAILY

It is not widely known that one of the hardest jobs is journalism. As a journalist, one must try not to let emotions, ideals, or beliefs take over the article one writes. I say, “try” because almost no one achieves it. Therefore, it is common to hear people stereotyping newspapers. For example, as “a red newspaper” (in reference of how much the influence is by communism).

Furthermore, as a journalist with the desire of being the first one publishing a story, we tend to expose ourselves to terrible situations without realizing it. Sometimes, the exposal might even get us killed. For instance, some reporters, hired by a newspaper or as a freelance, went to cover the crisis that Syria had to go through back in 2014. However, they could not complete their job since the Islamic Estate (ISIS) beheaded them just to “send” a message to other countries.

Those are the two key issues revolving around the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (SOCHUM) committee. Even though there are over a hundred member states on this committee, it is amazing how fast they have all agreed journalists who work overseas should have a specific training. It was not specified, however, what type of training they were talking about.

The People’s Daily managed to arrange a press conference with the SOCHUM committee in order to solve the doubts we had. The most controversial question: “Specifically, when it comes to protecting journalists who have to cover a city going through a period of crisis, a common proposal is to train them. However, it is not specified how the training should be: whether mentally, physically or both. If it happens to be a military training then are they going to be able to carry weapons? If so, are they going to be allowed to kill under specific situations?”
Poland was ready to answer and she was given the opportunity to do so.

Poland’s delegate strongly believes that the journalists should receive a training, including but not limited to military training. Carrying weapons is not an option since they are civilians and are meant to remain that way. The whole room seemed to agree with her on that comment. However, right after the press conference ended few delegates came looking for me.
Perhaps the most valuable comment I got was from the Czech Republic. “All of the proposals you have heard are outstanding. However, the key element is  missing. Where is the money going to come from? Are governments planning on printing more money to build boot camps? We are visionaries and we have an incredible plan to fundraise for all of our programs”.

They are looking for funding for two main reasons.
• BEFORE
5 Training camps, 1 on each continent, to teach journalists to be mentally prepared for different situations during a crisis. (e.g. flash bombs, grenades and explosions).
• AFTER
5 Health centers, 1 on each continent, for the jornalists to recover both physically and mentally from the experience they just lived.

Czech Republic delegates are on undergoing negotiations with different NGO’s to expose their plans to see if any of them is willing to contribute. One thing is for sure, the whole committee will find a way to the final resolution before the closing of the event since they are rapidly negotiating all their ideas.