Ro
En
Рy
“I pay tribute to the courage of all media personnel who put their lives on the line for the sake of truth. And I call for immediate action to secure justice in cases where journalists were attacked, harassed or killed,” the message says.
According to a UNESCO report, at least 827 journalists were killed in the period of 2006-2015, of which 115 only last year. 2015 is the second worst year in the past decade in journalism, when only 8 percent of perpetrators were held accountable. Of the 213 journalists killed between 2014 and 2015, 78 were killed in Arab states, which makes the Arab world the most dangerous region for journalists, largely due to current conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya. In the same period, 51 journalists lost their lives in Latin America and the Caribbean, 34 in Asia, 27 in Africa and 12 in Central and Eastern Europe.
Nearly half of the online journalists that were killed in the past two years were reporters of web portals and bloggers who covered the conflict in Syria.
The UN Secretary General calls on all countries to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists with concrete actions to ensure that all media personnel are guaranteed the space they need to operate free from any form of harassment or intimidation. “In this way, we will strengthen public access to information, which is key to the Sustainable Development Goals,” the message says.
Photo source:www.md.one.un.org
