According to a United Nations organization, the vast majority of journalist homicides around the world go unpunished.
“Impunity for journalist killings remains unacceptably high at 86 percent,” according to UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization whose mandate includes media issues.
UNESCO demanded, “all essential actions to guarantee that crimes against journalists are adequately investigated and their perpetrators are identified and sentenced.”
In a report released to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, an UN-backed campaign, the organization dubbed the global immunity rate for journalist killings “shockingly high.”
In a statement, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated that “freedom of expression cannot be maintained when there are such a staggering number of unsolved cases.”
According to her, impunity has a “chilling effect on investigative reporting.”
While UNESCO applauded a 9-percentage-point decrease in impunity over the last decade, it stated that this was insufficient to halt what it called “the spiral of violence.”
During the reporting year of 2020 and 2021, 91 of the 117 journalists slain for doing their jobs were assassinated while off the clock.
“Several were slaughtered in front of family members, including their children,” according to the report.
UNESCO stated that it is collaborating with member countries to establish and execute national media laws and policies.
It was also educating judges, prosecutors, and security personnel “to enforce journalists’ rights and ensure that attacks on them are investigated and prosecuted.”
