AFP Honoured at SOPA Awards for Coverage of Afghan and Rohingya Refugees

AFP received two Honourable Mentions at the prestigious Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards for its reporting on the mass exodus of Afghans from Pakistan and the arrival of desperate Rohingya refugees in Indonesia.

AFP teams from Pakistan and Afghanistan were recognised in the Excellence in Breaking News category. Together, the Islamabad and Kabul bureaus mobilised more than 20 reporters, photographers and video journalists in the build-up to the Pakistan government’s deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave the country. On the day of the deadline, AFP had teams on both sides of the northern border to witness the migration of tens of thousands of people in one day.

“Harrowing stories of ordinary people at the mercy of government policy shifts in a dangerous region,” the judges commented on AFP’s coverage. “This series required impressive commitment and courage to highlight a neglected story.”