African Catholic Journalists have been told to play their part in preserving the dignity of migrants by producing content that exposes agents who are behind the suffering of those who leave their countries in search of better living conditions.
In his address at the seminar that the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) organized in Uganda, Dr. Ben Nnamdi Emenyeonu, a Nigerian researcher who joined other facilitators of the program urged Catholic journalists to use social media to shine a light on the injustices that migrants and refugees face, exposing “heartless agents who exploit young women by sending them abroad for prostitution or tricking them into low-paying jobs as housemaids in the Gulf states.”
Dr. Nnamdi delivered his Tuesaday, November 7 presentation on ‘The realities of migration and the role of journalists and the media in preserving the dignity of migrant workers’.
The Nigerian researcher who lectures media and communication studies at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman urged the journalists to shun “the lure of cheap stereotyping, stigmatization and promotion of xenophobic values and attitudes in reports and other contents on migrants in traditional and social media.”
The six-day seminar that ends on Saturday, November 11 has organized by the Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP) in collaboration with the Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) on the theme, “Contribution of journalists and media practitioners for an integral Ecology according to Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Laudato Si’.”
The main objective of the seminar that started Sunday, November 5 is to “build the capacity of media professionals and propose effective approaches to solving environmental problems that are an integral part of sustainable development on the African continent.”
The event is also aimed at bringing together Catholic media professionals and lay journalists from across Africa to receive refresher training on working with the Church to develop sustainable mechanisms that promote environmental restoration and “allow ecosystems to function naturally.”
In his presentation Dr. Nnamdi urged the Catholic journalist to intensify the sensitization of groups mostly at risk, especially young women, on the dangers associated with migration, especially in search of labor.
The Nigerian Researcher based in Oman, Middle East said that journalists in Africa should also expose the factors that fuel migration among youths including bad governance, and extreme economic hardship among issues that compel the youth to seek refuge elsewhere
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