According to a UNESCO report published on Saturday, November 2, 85% of the murders of journalists recorded since 2006 are considered unsolved.
“In 2022 and 2023, a journalist has been murdered every four days simply for carrying out their essential work of seeking the truth. In most cases, no one will be held responsible for these murders.”declared the director general of the UN organization, Audrey Azoulay, quoted in the report published on the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for These Crimes. In front of “impunity rate” very high, UNESCO urges States to “considerably increase your efforts”.
During the two years covered by the UNESCO report (2022-2023), 162 journalists were killed, almost half of them working in countries experiencing armed conflict.
In 2022, the country with the highest number of crimes was Mexico, with 19 cases. Just before Ukraine where the murder of 11 journalists was recorded that year.
In 2023, “The highest number of murders was recorded in the State of Palestine: 24 journalists were murdered there”the report states. Palestine was admitted as a full member of UNESCO in 2011. The report generally notes a “Increasing number of murders in countries in conflict”. Local journalists “It accounted for 86% of the murders linked to coverage of the conflict”estimated by UNESCO.
Women will be attacked more than before in 2022
Furthermore, the organization specifies that “Journalists continue to be murdered in or near their homes, putting their families at great risk”.
In other geographic areas, the majority of murdered journalists covered “organized crime, corruption” or were killed “during coverage of the demonstrations”UNESCO adds.
More than in previous years, female journalists were especially targeted for these murders in 2022. The organization recorded ten murders of female journalists during this year alone. Among the victims, Mexican journalist Lourdes Maldonado López, shot to death on the border between Mexico and the United States. Or the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed during an Israeli raid while covering clashes in the occupied West Bank.
