Media development organisations
A series of media development organisations, present in Yemen between the revolution of 2011 and 2014-15, had to suspend their operations on the ground, limiting their activities to support local journalists with small funds, or equipment which is essential for their safety (like bulletproof vests). For example, it is the case of the International Media Support (IMS), which has completely suspended all its ongoing projects, or of the Rory Peck Trust and Freedom House, which keep supporting journalists from abroad, largely providing financial aid to those who were damaged, injured, kidnapped (and then released), to allow them to resume their activity or to support their families. In more than one case, the Rory Peck Trust and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have provided an active channel for the relocation of journalists in a safer country, such as Jordan, Turkey or Egypt among the MENA countries.
The association of Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) is still operating through affiliated local journalists, conducting in depth and independent investigations about human rights violations, corruption, militias and politics. They don’t have a headquarters in Yemen and host their annual meetings in Jordan. Mawtana, a Yemeni independent organisation for human rights, established in Sana’a in 2015, has the aim to contribute to the reduction of human rights violations. It releases investigative reports about the media landscape, detention of journalists and threats to independent media and media development organisations already present in the country.