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Russian journalists in Luhansk
Photo: IMAGO/Gavriil Grigorov / IMAGO/ITAR-TASS
The journalist unions from Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland are withdrawing from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in protest.
The Danish association DJ announced on Tuesday that it was a reaction to several decisions by the IFJ leadership.
Nordic journalists' unions accuse the confederation of undemocratic practices and "corrupt activity," said Hanne Aho, the leader of the journalists' union in Finland.
Among other things, the association accepted that the Russian union had settled in several areas of Ukraine, just as it had previously done in a similar way in Abkhazia, part of Georgia.
"They were able to do this in peace without the International Federation excluding the Russian Union," Aho said.
The Nordic unions also complained about a lack of transparency in the association's decisions and in financial matters.
The World Congress took place in Oman last year, where freedom of the press is restricted, said Aho.
This congress was suspiciously extravagant and expensive.
»False, defamatory and harmful«
The Finnish journalists' union then reviewed the IFJ's budget for the congress.
According to this, up to 745,000 euros of the total of 778,000 euros came from Omani ministries and private companies as well as the local journalists' association.
The IFJ itself only paid a fraction of the costs.
"We hope that our exit will shake up the other member organizations of the IFJ, so that they demand changes," Aho said.
The IFJ, which represents around 600,000 journalists in 146 countries, called the allegations "false, defamatory and harmful".
A formal procedure for the expulsion of the Russian journalists' union has already been initiated.
Subsidies for congresses were part of normal procedure.
All other finances are also officially audited every year.
An attempt was made to answer all the questions asked by the Nordic unions.
cpa/Reuters
