secondHonorable Federal Chancellor, Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs,
This letter is a cry for help. It is signed by German publishers, editorial offices, broadcasters, and media companies that have made significant contributions to reporting on Afghanistan in the past 20 years.
Our reports provide the German public and political circles with analysis, insights and impressions from the country. Without the commitment and courage of our Afghan employees on the scene: local reporters, special correspondents, and translators, this would be unthinkable.
Over the years, they have also believed that freedom of the press is an indispensable element of stable, peaceful, and balanced democracy. This is a value that the German government has strongly supported in Afghanistan for the past 20 years.
The lives of these freelancers are now in extreme danger. The war swept through the governments of many provinces in Afghanistan. For employees of international media organizations, life even in Kabul has become extremely dangerous. After the withdrawal of international forces, including the Germans, there is growing concern that the Taliban will retaliate against our employees.
Only in the past few weeks, world-famous photographer Dan Sidici was shot dead in Kandahar, and a TV reporter was killed in a bomb attack in Kabul. Amdadullah Hamdard, who often worked for ZEIT, was shot dead in front of his home in Jalalabad. In the past few years, dozens of journalists have been killed by the Taliban, the “Islamic State” and strangers. The government almost never identified the perpetrator. The worry is that such murders will now increase dramatically-many of our employees are threatened.
Set up an emergency visa program!
According to international human rights organizations, journalists from almost no country in the world are now as vulnerable as Afghanistan.
We hereby call on you to set up an emergency visa plan for Afghan employees of German media companies. We are joining the appeals made by the British and American media to their respective governments.
In recent years, the German government has repeatedly acknowledged the central role played by Afghan interpreters for the Bundeswehr and the great dangers they face due to their work. For this reason, the federal government has developed a special visa program for them. Employees of German media companies now urgently need such a plan.
Without these brave Afghans, the German public and politicians would not be able to understand the overall situation of the Bundeswehr’s 20-year mission. The work of these people is as indispensable to the commitment of the Federal Republic of Germany in Afghanistan as the work of the Bundeswehr translators.
Just as important as these employees is that their number is controllable, no more than dozens of people, including their family members.
Last week, following similar appeals from the US media, the Biden administration recognized that the risks faced by foreign media employees had increased sharply and included the affected people in its Afghan refugee plan. The British government has indicated that it is preparing a similar decision.
We firmly believe that there is no time to waste now. Our employees who want to leave this country face persecution, arrest, torture and death. Therefore, we ask you to act quickly.
DIE ZEIT, Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers (BDZV), DER SPIEGEL, Deutsche Welle, Deutschlandradio, dpa, Reporters Without Borders, stern, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, taz, RTL, n-tv, ARTE and MDR
