Global efforts to end impunity against journalists

To address the issues of attack on journalists, the Brussels based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) launched the 2017 campaign to end impunity against journalists which will last until 23 November.

The IFJ, in a statement signed by its President Philippe Leruth, explained that the eighth commemoration of the Maguindanao massacre which claimed 32 journalists’ lives calls for strengthening the international legal framework and national protection mechanisms to ensure greater media safety.

The campaign focuses on seven countries. They are: Mexico, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Ukraine.

“While the UN Day to end impunity for crime against journalists by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 has helped put the issue of media protection on the international agenda, the IFJ has expressed its concern that there have been no concrete measures to investigate incidents of violence against journalists in many countries around the world.

“The levels of violence in journalism around the world make a mockery of the high-minded intentions behind initiatives such as the UN Day to end impunity. As long as they are not acted upon by holding accountable those who commit these crimes, there will remain an open season on journalists and media professionals,” IFJ statement noted.

Statistics by the IFJ have shown that 56 journalists lost their lives while carrying out their duties since the beginning of 2017.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is the world’s largest organisation of journalists. First established in 1926, it represents around 600,000 journalists in 179 unions and associations across 139 countries worldwide.