The vast majority of journalist murders are crimes without punishment

The murders of journalists on a global scale they still remain unpunished in the vast majority of cases, today it is decorated with Unescoaddressing appeal to the leaders of all countries to take action in order to strengthen the possibilities to carry out investigations and punish the perpetrators.

“According to new UNESCO data, the rate of impunity for murders of journalists worldwide is 86%“, or in other words it fell by 9 points in the last ten years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Training Organization emphasizes in its report.

However, this reduction is “far insufficient to stop” the worsening of violence against journalists, UNESCO warns.

As APE-MPE reports, during the period 2020-2021, 117 journalists were murdered because of their work. This is the lowest number since the first publication of this report by UNESCO, in 2008. However, the organization underlines that in 2022, 66 journalists had already been murdered by September 30 on a global scale.

In the previous two years, the regions which are characterized by more deadly for journalists it was Latin America and the Caribbean and to a lesser extent Asia and the Pacific. In contrast, in 2020 there were no journalist murders recorded in Central and Eastern Europe, something that had happened since 2007.

Seemingly paradoxical: only 36% of journalists were killed in countries experiencing armed conflict in 2021. 64% of the murders were committed in countries where there are no ongoing wars.

The report instead records an increase in the number of journalists who lost their lives covering riots or demonstrations: there were six in 2020-2021, compared to three in 2016-2017.

UNESCO underlines that there is no safe place for journalists: of the 117 murdered in 2020-2021, 91 of them (almost eight in ten) were off-hours, at home, in their car or on the road, not reporting, or on a specific mission. Many were murdered in front of their family members, including their children.

Worse, the percentage of women among journalists killed almost doubled in 2021, to 11%, from 6% the year before.

Faced with these findings, UNESCO appeals once again to take all necessary measures so that crimes against journalists are properly investigated and their perpetrators identified and convicted.