UN renames Palestine media program after Shireen Abu Akleh

The United Nations has renamed the annual training programme for Palestinian broadcasters and journalists after  journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was assassinated by the Israeli army on 11 May in the occupied West Bank.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who made the announcement yesterday, said Abu Akleh “had a distinguished career in journalism for a quarter of a century” and “was a trailblazer for Arab women, and a role model for journalists in the Middle East and around the world.”

Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, had appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to rename the training programme after Abu Akleh.

“As a staunch supporter of the freedom of the press, and fundamental freedoms worldwide, to honour this brave and iconic woman journalist,” Mansour said in a letter.

in his reply, Guterres said the UN Department of Global Communications, which conducts the training, “welcomes the proposal to honour the bravery and legacy of Ms. Abu Akleh by renaming the training program for Palestinian broadcasters and journalists to ‘The Shireen Abu Akleh Training Program for Palestinian Broadcasters and Journalists’.”

READ: Jordan honours slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Mansour expressed his appreciation for this “international honour” for Abu Akleh who, for a quarter of a century,  had amplified the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people revealing the atrocities and crimes of the Israeli occupation.

Mansour added that this step will motivate emerging Palestinian journalists, especially young women, to join the programme and follow Abu Akleh’s example.

In 1995, the General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting the UN public information department provide assistance to the Palestinian people in the field of media development.

Since then, about 200 Palestinian journalists have participated in the programme.

Israel assassinated Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on 11 May while she was covering the occupation army’s storming of Jenin refugee camp. The 51-year-old was wearing a flak jacket clearly displaying the word “Press” and had a helmet on, but was still shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. Her colleagues were also shot at as they tried to rescue her.

Pallbearers at her funeral were also beaten with batons as Israel Police crackdown on her  funeral procession as it travelled through occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel shoots dead Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, during invasion of Jenin – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]