Rickey Singh memory bridges the Americas

Less than a year following his death, pioneering Caribbean journalist Rickey Singh remained a powerful presence in hemispheric media circles on June 22, as leading journalists gathered on the margins of the 56th OAS General Assembly in Panama to discuss a new initiative bearing his name.

Initiated by outgoing Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Pedro Vaca, the “Rickey Singh Initiative for Journalistic Excellence in the Americas” was explored by hemispheric media leaders.

Special Rapporteur, Pedro Vaca

A “manifesto” prescribing “new ethics of communication” was presented by Mónica González, President of the Colombia-based Fundación Gabo, named for the late Nobel laureate, Colombian journalist/writer, Gabriel García Márquez.

 She stressed the importance of meeting the journalistic requirements of a new era of communication and introduced a journalistic “manifesto” and a discussion paper entitled: “Reinventing Ourselves - Key Pillars for Upholding Excellence in Journalism.”

 Barbadian attorney, human rights activist and former IACHR commissioner, Roberta Clarke, suggested that the initiative had the potential to address a “blind spot” in relations between the Latin American and Caribbean sub-regions.

 She said there had been recent efforts to “deepen the Commission’s understanding of the Caribbean and to encourage greater participation by Caribbean states and civil society.”

 “The IACHR was perceived as not doing the work to understand the Caribbean and the challenges and achievements in constructing democracies given the political and economic legacies of extreme violence and inequalities based on ethnicity,” Clarke added.

Attorney/human rights activist, Roberta Clarke

She said: “The Rickey Singh story is not only about journalism; it is about courage, the importance of information to democracy, the insistence on state accountability and a commitment to the Caribbean identity.”

 IACHR human rights consultant and daughter of the late Guyana-born journalist, Wendy Singh, described some of the challenges faced by her father, including exile from his home country and difficulties in both T&T and Barbados.

Caribbean participants at the Panama event included senior journalists from the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Human rights consultant and daughter, Wendy Singh 

Journalists and press freedom activists also came from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

 The Initiative is due for formal introduction at the annual Gabo Festival currently underway in in Bogotá, Colombia.