Reporters without Borders criticize EU visa policy

Published on the website of public German radio channel “Deutschlandradio” on 19 February 2010
Source (German): http://www.dradio.de/kulturnachrichten/2010021916/4/

The European Union does not grant sufficient protection to politically persecuted journalists – this complaint was raised by the organization “Reporters without Borders”. On occasion of the opening of an emergency assistance office in Berlin, Secretary General Jean-Francois Julliard said that EU members should assume their responsibiltiy and provide persecuted journalists with speedy and unbureaucratic help. Instead, these refugees are subjected to the restrictive European asylum regulations and forced to stay in insecure neighboring countries for months. In the last year alone, 159 journalists from 25 countries were forced to leave their country, according to Julliard. Mainly affected are reporters in Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Iran.