INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

IMCK started on June 24 with a second workshop for journalists from Mosul. The workshop on news and feature writing will last for five days in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. International trainer Wendelmoet Boersema and local co-trainer Khaled Suleiman give the workshop to 18 participants from different backgrounds, such as Kurds, Arabs, Christians and Yazidi. The workshop aims to boost the expertise of attending journalists and to create an awareness of the role media can play within the complex situation of Mosul and of the consequences reports can have in the often intense situation. Mosul is the hotbed of Iraq, where Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and the different minority groups clash and where a big part of the city is under Islamic control. The terrorist groups are controlling a part of the province as well as the city. Journalists from outside do not go to this area. Mosul is a dangerous place for journalists. Many of them have to work incognito, always afraid of abduction and r...

June 6, IMCK started in cooperation with STATT two workshops on writing feature stories on illegal migration. The first workshop is held in Sulaymaniyah. Fifteen journalists attend the workshop. On June 7 the second workshop will take place in the capital of Kurdistan, Erbil. Many young people in Iraqi Kurdistan want to leave the country. But as visas are hard to come by, many use smugglers and buy passports with a visa. This illegal migration has many bad consequences. Both for the host countries and maybe even more for the illegal migrants. Besides the risk of being detained and deported, people risk to be trafficked for exploitation. Men and women can end up in illegal prostitution or laboured slavery. Therefore IMCK wants to inform Kurdish journalists about the problems. STATT is involved by providing experts on illegal migration, which provide the background information and expand the knowledge of the participants on the subject. Issues like data on illegal migration fro...

Three Dutch parliamentary reporters came to Irbil to help their Kurdish colleagues to extend their knowledge on how to report on politics and on the parliament. Hans Otte, Milja de Zwart and Roel Geeraedts all worked in this field for years. Otte is leading the training, as he did a civil journalism training with IMCK last year. With the elections coming the three Dutch reporters also try to teach colleagues in Kurdistan how to inform people to help them cast their votes. In Irbil, at the building of Aras Publishing, on April 21 they started a workshop of 7 days with 3 groups of journalists: working in print, radio and TV. Co-trainers are Xdir Domle, Shwan Muhamed and Ako Mohammed. The project is part of a project IMCK has started to create more understanding between reporters and politicians, and is partly funded by the American reconstruction fund.