-- Equidem contributes to the preparation of ILO Media Toolkit
Tuesday, 2 October 2018
Rejimon Kuttappan, Equidem senior investigator, participated as an expert resource person, in a Forced Labour and Fair Recruitment workshop for journalists, organized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Amman, Jordan from 3 to 5 September 2018.
The workshop arranged to prepare a Media Toolkit, was held as part of REFRAME - an ILO project focussed on the recruitment of migrant workers. REFRAME, together with other ILO projects are contributing to a wider media engagement initiative regarding reporting fairly on labour migration and fair recruitment.
“The toolkit aims to equip journalists with tools of right-based reporting on forced labour and fair recruitment, and to support them in producing balanced reports that tell all sides of the story while at the same time following ethical standards.” Rejimon said.
On 4 September 2018, Rejimon with Ernest Sagaga, Head of Human Rights at International Federation of Journalists, led a session titled “Getting the Story” - one of the key modules of the toolkit.
In the session, Rejimon discussed how media professionals should manage the conflict journalists often face, of drawing significant attention to individuals in situations of forced labour whilst ensuring the highest standards of safety and security for their sources. He also discussed how young journalists should prepare themselves before going to the ground to document forced labour, and his view on the representation of forced labour in the media.
The sessions also aimed to familiarise journalist trainers with the toolkit, to facilitate their work in organizing trainings at the national level and to develop networking among international media specialists who have been involved and associated with ILO media engagement activates in the areas of forced labour and labour migration.
