InfoSud
InfoSud was launched in recognition of the fact that public opinion cannot evolve by relying on the major media alone which has a more narrow focus of world events in general and human rights in particular. For this reason Daniel Wermus of Switzerland and Ram Etwareea of Ile Maurice launched the InfoSud agency in 1988 with a network of North-South journalists.
In 23 years, InfoSud has published more than 17,000 articles in numerous news outlets in Switzerland, Europe, Asia and Africa. InfoSud is a partner with Syfia International (six agencies in Francophone Africa, Europe and Canada) in collaboration with other networks such as Interpress Service with 100 bureaux around the world.
At the same time the multi-cultural editorial staff in Geneva has published original articles on North-South relations on subjects as diverse as debt problems, natural resource exploitation, humanitarian and human rights issues.
InfoSud takes advantage of the important international organizations headquartered in Geneva which offer a window on global change with comprehensive sources for original subjects of resonance throughout the world.
The agency also sought to demonstrate the growing interdependence between the countries in the North and those in the South and the challenges they have in common, whether combating AIDs and drugs or dealing with war and natural disasters.
The Human Rights Tribune
In March 2006, with the creation of the new Human Rights Council in Geneva, InfoSud launched the Tribune des droits humains / Human Rights Tribune in French and English. The new site provided thousands of articles each year on subjects related to human rights, with special focus on topics often neglected by the Human Rights Council, in strict accordance with journalistic standards. HRT also publishes the contributions of diverse civil society members, diplomats and victims.
In November 2007, two HRT journalists, Carole Vann and Juan Gasparini, received the prestigious Nicolas Bouvier award for a series of exclusive reporting for the site on human rights violations in Iran and Uzbekistan.
InfoSud & Human Rights Tribune
Many of the themes developed by InfoSud over the past 20 years, business, environment, natural resources, migration to name a few, are inseparable from human rights. For this reason, beginning in September 2009, the convergence of these two websites, InfoSud & Human Rights Tribune, corresponds to a more global view of human rights from both the individual point of view as well as a collective one. The new site reflects today’s global trends, whether in business, politics or development all of which are inseparable from human rights.
The editorial line of InfoSud & Human Rights Tribune is independent of all political, economic and religious pressure. The site has its own code of ethics based on the charter of the Swiss press association Impressum.
- Status of the association