The reason for the separation is said to be administrative problems that have been going on for more than ten years.
Finland The Union of Journalists has announced that it is resigning from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The reason for the separation is said to be the administrative problems that have been going on for more than ten years, which the IFJ has not been able to fix, according to the Finnish Federation.
Dissatisfaction has been caused by, among other things, the organization of congresses and elections, the lack of transparency of decision-making and the lack of information about the international organization’s finances.
The Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic journalist unions also announced their resignation from the IFJ.
Finland the journalists’ union reported on the resignations earlier in January. At that time, the president of the Journalists’ Association Hanne Aho said that the most significant problems are related to the use of money.
“We practically do not know how the money is used. It is non-transparent, and despite requests, we do not get information about the issues,” Aho said at the time.
According to him, there have been signs of corruption in IFJ’s operations.
“We cannot claim that they have committed corruption, but there are clear signs and suspicions,” Aho stated.
For example, he brought up the congress held by the IFJ in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, in 2019. At the congress held every three years, new decision-makers are elected for the union. According to Aho, the Finnish Association of Journalists was informed that votes had been bought with money at that time. However, the suspicions could not be proven, Aho said.
of the IFJ internal conflicts seem to have matured intolerable under the surface over the years.
Journalist Juha Rekola, who acted as the international representative of the Finnish Journalists’ Association and followed IFJ’s activities for more than a decade, previously told HS that the umbrella organization has gradually tried to exclude, for example, representatives of the Nordic countries from the decision-making bodies.
“All fresh ideas and the people who drove them have been thrown aside”, Rekola said In the article published for HS on January 12.
IFJ’s general secretary Anthony Bellanger has denied allegations of unclear use of money and vote buying. According to him, IFJ’s member unions have regularly received information about the use of money.
In his letter sent to HS earlier in January, Bellangerin said that he investigated the vote that took place in Tunis by interviewing the leaders of the various countries’ unions, delegates and IFJ staff who participated in the congress.
According to Bellanger, no witnesses, written statements, e-mails or photographs referring to vote buying were found in his investigation. According to Bellanger, investigating the matter was complicated by the fact that the complaint about possible vote buying was made 15 months after the congress.
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