Shelter for journalists offered in France

Press and Information Counselor Georges-Gaston Feydeau of the French Embassy in Manila said France has a place for journalists who are having difficulties in life because of their profession.

Feydeau, who is moving to Mongolia after his four years tour of duty in the Philippines said the house is a place where journalists live, listen to each other and meet. The shelter is called "La Maison des journalistes" or House of Journalists. mb.com.ph reports

The House, according to its website, was established on May 6, 2002 in Bobigny, Seine St. Denis but later took up its definitive premises on November 1, 2003 on 35 Cauchy Street, 15th district of Paris.

Settled on three levels on 850-square meter former factory, it has 15 rooms among which two are fitted for handicapped people.

It can welcome 30 journalists per year for stays of a maximum of 6 months. It offers to each resident a single room, allowing them to have some peace and intimacy, a daily purchase voucher for food, a local public transports card, and a phone card.

There are about 20 journalists staying in the shelter at the moment, according to Feydeau "One news I can give you is that there is sort of shelter – I hope it will not happen under the new administration – if by misfortune it happens, we have a new house in Paris which serves as a shelter for foreign journalists," said Feydeau, who is due for Mongolia at the end of August after spending four years in the country. Journalists who are staying at the shelter are mostly harassed and threatened by force in their own country in the pursuit of their profession. The House has already welcomed colleagues from Algeria, Armenia, Bangladesh, Byelorussia, Burma, Cameroon, China, Congo, the Ivory Coast, the democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba, Haiti, Pakistan, Chad, Togo, Tunisia and Yemen.