Press release
Geneva – February 6, 2024
Journalists of the Egyptian economic magazine “Al-Bawsala” organized a protest on February 3 outside the Journalists Syndicate’s registration committee office. The demonstration aimed to assert their right to include their magazine in the ongoing registration process in the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.
By the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate regulations, publication authors must submit a listing request to enable the inclusion of their journalists in the syndicate. Despite the Economic Compass magazine’s board of directors having submitted all required documentation verifying its eligibility, the syndicate still needs to issue a decision about that.
During the protest, journalists displayed banners emphasizing the urgency of implementing their demands and ensuring the prompt insertion of their magazine.
The demonstrators called for the enforcement of a syndicate council decision from January 2019, which sanctioned the inserting of the magazine and the acceptance of new colleagues during the ongoing registration cycle. They announced their intention to persist in their vigil until their demands were met, hinting at the possibility of escalating their protest if necessary.
In response, The Committee for Justice (CFJ) urged the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate to initiate positive dialogue channels with the journalists from “Al-Bawsala” magazine. The committee emphasized the importance of considering their demands in line with Egypt’s journalistic regulations and the union’s internal rules. It called for a fair evaluation that safeguards the rights of the magazine’s employees and adheres to the established norms of journalistic work within the country.
