Safeguarding a professional identity in order to continue to bear witness, to tell stories, to find a voice. This is one of the key wishes of journalists in exile in Belgium, who have been forced to flee their country of origin, where it was no longer possible to fulfil their mission to inform, where freedom of expression was no longer guaranteed.

Those few words sum up LATITUDES – an online media created by En-GAJE, a Belgian association that helps exiled journalists, and by the Brussels universities ULB and VUB, in particular through their journalism courses.

This trilingual media – in French, Dutch and English – was conceived for, and by, journalists in exile who are members of En-GAJE, in collaboration with journalism students from ULB and VUB.

After a year of reflection and work, an editorial committee has built a valuable project that will take a special place in the Belgian media landscape.

LATITUDES, launched in Belgium on Tuesday 29 March 2022, has consciously selected three key focal points for its editorial line: human rights, migration and freedom of expression.

Over the coming weeks, LATITUDES’ audience will be able to discover and appreciate: Omayma’s long journey from Gaza to Brussels (Palestine); Lailuma’s geopolitical analysis (Afghanistan); Tory’s reportage from Armenia (Kurdish, from Turkey); and the ambient sounds of a restaurant in Anderlecht shared by Alexandre (Burundi). They can also enjoy the investigations and reports on the journalists changing jobs, the life of LGBT people in exile, and disinformation in Ukraine – all developed over the past few weeks by groups of students from ULB and VUB working together.

Written reports, podcasts, web documentaries, videos and sounds – LATITUDES combines diversity and solidarity and promotes partnerships between budding journalists and journalists in exile in a shared mission – the dissemination of quality information.

A unique experience in Belgium.

The LATITUDES Editorial Committee