It is our fabulous pleasure to inform all of you that Freedom Forum has obtained full membership of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) – a global network of organizations working in the area of freedom of expression.
The biennial meeting of the world’s largest network of free expression organizations that took place this week in Beirut, Lebanon endorsed the membership of seven interim members including Freedom Forum. IFEX’s expanding membership makes it “truly international in its scope of work and diversity of membership,” said Edetaen Ojo from Nigeria’s Media Rights Agenda (MRA), who was re-elected as the convenor of IFEX Council. “Ultimately this can only enhance our ability to engage more effectively around the world.”
Freedom Forum draws the world’s attention to press freedom violations among other human rights abuses in Nepal. Taranath Dahal not only chairs Freedom Forum, but has himself made IFEX headlines in the past: he was threatened for his work as an advocate for journalists and had to go into hiding during Nepal’s state of emergency in 2005.
IFEX was created in 1992 in Montréal, Canada when a dozen leading free expression organizations came together to create a coordinated mechanism to rapidly expose free expression violations around the world. Today, IFEX numbers more than 95 independent organizations worldwide and is internationally recognized as a highly credible and effective global network.
We are proud to be the part of the Network and owe our gratefulness to the general meeting of the IFEX Council and its members, whose genuine support remained substantial to Freedom Forum Nepal in obtaining the membership.