UN urged to step up protection for journalists as 110 killed in 2015
With 110 journalists killed in connection with their work or for still unclear reasons in 2015, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a non-governmental organisation that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press, is calling on the UN to find a better way of protecting journalists.
The organisation wants the world body to create the position of Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Safety of Journalists.
It noted that 787 journalists had been killed in the course of their work since 2005.
“Tasked above all with monitoring compliance by UN member states with their obligations under international law, the Special Representative would have the political weight and early warning capability that are necessary to protect journalists effectively,” RSF said in a statement
“With the aim of quickly obtaining a resolution creating this position, RSF has been waging an active international campaign for several months to gather support within the UN system and from member states,” the organisation added.
RSF urged the UN Security Council to refer war crimes against journalists to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In April last year, RSF asked the Security Council to do everything possible to ensure that the situation of journalists in Syria and Iraq was referred to the ICC prosecutor.
“Only the Council, under its authority for maintaining international peace and security, can get the ICC to investigate war crimes against journalists in countries that are not parties to the ICC statute and to prosecute those responsible,” RSF said.
It has been producing its annual round-up of acts of violence against journalists for the past 20 years, constituting one of the key components of RSF’s work in support of those who risk their lives to keep the world informed.
“The very high number of journalists killed in 2015 is attributable to the increasingly deliberate use of violence against journalists,” RSF said.
“It is also indicative of the failure of initiatives designed to protect journalists. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on August 6, 2015 in his annual report on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity: ‘I am deeply concerned about the failure to reduce the frequency and scale of targeted violence that journalists face and the near absolute impunity for such crimes.”
RSF said non-state groups “perpetrate targeted atrocities while too many governments do not comply with their obligations under international law”.
Two-thirds of the journalists killed worldwide in 2014 were killed in war zones, while last year it was the exact opposite, with two-thirds being killed in countries “at peace”, RSF said.
In the cases of 43 of the journalists killed in 2015, the motives or reasons for their deaths remained unclear “because of the lack of thorough and impartial official investigations, the lack of good faith on the part of governments, or the difficulty of investigating in unstable or lawless regions”.
RSF added: “These ‘unclear reasons’ reflect the problem of impunity for crimes of violence against journalists in many regions of the world: Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.”
Source: GNA