A guide to defending press freedom and democracy in West Africa - ECOWAS, CSOs

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Representatives of ECOWAS, academia, journalists and civil society organisations have bemoaned the alarming decline in press freedom and democracy in the West Africa region, and suggested ways to address it.

They called on journalists to be professional and uphold the ethics and ethos of their job.

They also called for more engagements with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on how to improve on and implement the body’s existing policy documents on human rights, free press and democracy.

They spoke in Accra, Ghana, during the opening of a two-day regional conference on ‘The media, press freedom and democratic recession in West Africa,’ on Tuesday.

The event, coming on the heels of the recent coup d’état in Burkina Faso, was organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the West Africa Democracy Solidarity Network (WADEMOS).

WADEMOS is a newly formed coalition of about 35 pro-democracy CSOs from across the 15 countries in the sub-region.

The event, which drew participants from all the West African countries, was attended by the Head, Democracy and Good Governance and Political Affairs Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission, Eyesan Okorodudu, and the regional body’s Resident Representative in Ghana, Baba Gana Wali.

Both of them suggested ways journalists and CSOs could make contributions to ECOWAS policy documents to stop the decline in press freedom, promotion of human rights, enhance accountable journalism and defend democracy in the region.

Since 2020, there have been successful coups in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso, and failed attempts in Niger and Guinea Bissau. The latest coup in Burkina Faso on 30 September was the second in the country in less than nine months.

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