UK Poverty Post

Rewarding the accurate reporting of the lives of refugees

Charlesis an exiled journalist from Cameroon seeking asylum in Glasgow. He is one of the judges for tonight’s Oxfam Refugee Week Scottish Media Awards and here tells his story…

I am happy to now live in a country where the media is free and journalists like me do not have our lives threatened for reporting the truth. However, over the past five years living here I have seen some UK media reporting untrue stories that affect people seeking asylum like me and make our new lives miserable.

It is good that many journalists in the UK strive to report accurately and truthfully about the lives of refugees so that people in the UK will better understand these difficult issues, and I am glad to have been involved in the judging of the Refugee Week Media Awards that recognizes this in Scotland.

My story….

In 2004 I fled my country, Cameroon, where, as a journalist, I faced torture and persecution and the threat of being killed. As a result of the stories I had written, I was forced to seek asylum in the UK. For five years I have waited in limbo for the UK government to decide if I can stay in this country. I am still waiting!

I worked as a journalist for 18 years. I started with the first financial and economic information magazine in Cameroon and then the first all sport information newspaper. I also worked with the state broadcast media and a private radio station and a number of other newspapers.

I worked for a period as a consultant with the World Bank Mission in Cameroon, the International Monetary Fund and UNESCO.

I specialised in investigative journalism. When Transparency International listed my country Cameroon as one of the worst countries in the world for corruption, I started to investigate this area. I wrote many critical articles against the government where I encountered many wrongdoings. This got me into trouble and as my life was threatened I had to flee Cameroon and abandon everyone I love – I have made a huge sacrifice.

My life in Scotland

Here in the UK as an asylum seeker I am not allowed to work. For the past five years I have volunteered. I am a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) – Glasgow Branch – and the Exiled Journalist Network. I am also volunteering as an adviser with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Glasgow for the past three years, and with Unity, a voluntary organization which provides help to asylum seekers in Glasgow.

In the UK journalists are free to write about issues that in my home country could get them shot. As a member of the NUJ, I admire the principles of many journalists here to report fairly and accurately on stories like mine.

I still write articles here from time to time critical of the corruption in Cameroon. I remind myself that in many countries (like my own) journalists are still at risk of being arrested or even shot while doing their job.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oxfam GB.