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Press freedom, safety of journalists and impunity
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
February 06, 2008

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001567/156773e.pdf

Introduction

States turn a blind eye to attacks on journalists
The failure to prevent the killing of journalists and attacks on the media means that governments and authorities around the world are depriving you, me and everyone else of a fundamental right guaranteed to us by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – that of freely receiving and imparting information and ideas.

Every journalist killed or neutralized by terror is an observer less of the human condition. Every attack distorts reality by creating a climate of fear and self-censorship.

The appeal has to be to governments and public authorities because the killers who carry out the murders, the thugs responsible for the attacks and the dark forces behind the violence are probably impervious to reason and beyond any appeal to conscience. They survive and fl ourish because they know that there is very little likelihood of their being caught. Statistics compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists indicate that full justice was achieved in only 6.7 percent of the cases in which newsmen and women were killed in the course of their duties between January 1, 1992 and June 18, 2007.

Shockingly, the CPJ believes that half of these killings were carried out either by government offi cials, by political parties or the military – in other words, this shows that many governments that have solemnly signed the UN Charter on Human Rights are blatantly and hypocritically ignoring it.

Not surprisingly, Iraq is the country where journalists are most in danger, but other places where it is unhealthy to be in the news business, according to the CPJ, include Colombia, of course, but also Russia, Philippines and Mexico. The Medellin conference included a number of speakers from those countries.

Although war and confl ict have taken a heavy toll, it has to be remembered that most killings of journalists and media support staff in the course of their duties – no less than a thousand over the past decade – have been premeditated and deliberate, despicable and targeted assassinations. Very often journalists and their families have had to live in a climate of terror after receiving warnings (such as envelopes containing a bullet) that they are targets.

Those killed include high profi le personalities such as Anna Politevskaya, who was posthumously awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize this year, to countless reporters unknown outside their own communities. In fact, journalists working on local beats make up the vast majority, about 90 percent, of reported assassinations and rarely do their deaths attract international attention.

The principle in every case is the same: these are not only crimes on the local level but offenses against the human spirit and grave infringements of a fundamental right at the highest level. That they are attacked and killed for their work is paradoxically a sign that media do matter, and that freedom of information and expression is a highly important component of civilized society. As Geoffrey Nyarota points points out from his background in persecuted independent journalism in Zimbabwe, it is the excellent and outstanding journalists who suffer by doing their jobs in an exemplary way rather than the corrupt, non-performing elites who fear a free press.

The deaths, tragic as they are, are only the tip of the iceberg because they create a climate of fear and self-censorship that makes investigative journalism diffi cult if not impossible. What makes matters worse is that many publishers prefer to print and broadcast profi table pap and gossip than to undertake costly and often dangerous investigations. And journalists in places like Ukraine may well despair when they see politicians and offi cials getting away with blatant corruption, and nobody seeming to care. A responsible press needs a responsive public.

Although the situation is sombre, there are some grounds for optimism. The topic is on the international agenda and cannot be ignored, thanks to support by UNESCO and campaigning by organizations such as the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters sans Frontières, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Inter-American Press Association, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Article 19, Index on Censorship, the International News Safety Institute, the World Press Freedom Committee, the World Association of Newspapers and many other groups on the regional or local level, including journalists’ unions and associations.

There are several good studies showing the scope of the problem of violence against the media, such as the annual report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Dangerous Assignments; the 2007 report by the International News safety Institute, Killing the Messenger ; and the report by the International Federation of Journalists, Journalism Put to the Sword in 2006.

Violence against the media has also been highlighted and condemned by several international authorities, including the rapporteurs for freedom of expression at the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the African Union.

But even coming from such distinguished bodies, condemnations and calls to action all too often on deaf ears. Even cases attributed to criminal elements go unresolved because governments lack the political will to put an end to the climate of impunity in which such crimes occur. Darío Ramírez Salazar of Article 19 explains, for example, that although Mexico has put some formal measures in place to prosecute organized criminals who attack journalists and community radio stations, these remain a dead letter because of lack of resources and political commitment. While the triggerman may be very occasionally be identifi ed and even put on trial, the fact is that none of the big crooks who give the orders is behind bars. Government actions thus are all too often pious hopes at best, and journalists remain easy targets.

The articles in this book, several by journalists with personal experience of harrassment or violence, explore the problem from many angles. Although all agree that violence against journalists for doing their job is morally and legally unacceptable under any circumstances, there are differing points of view about whether journalists should be afforded extra legal protection under international humanitarian law.

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