IFL gets first female head

IFL gets first female head

Written by Foster Dongozi

BRUSSELS - Veteran general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Aidan White, who has been at the helm of the global federation of unions and associations for journalists since 1987, retires at the end of March to make way for Brazilian television journalist and trade unionist, Elisabeth Costa. The South American becomes the first woman to head the IFJ secretariat which is based in the Belgian capital, and she is the first person from outside Europe to head the organisation which represents close to one million journalists world wide. Costa told ***The Zimbabwean that she was happy with the appointment and would work hard to ensure that the IFJ remained as the global voice of journalists. "I look forward to the job of working hard to ensure that the IFJ is there to strengthen unions of journalists throughout the world. We need to work together collectively to campaign for the rights of journalists as workers, Press Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Human Rights and authors' rights,” said Costa.