AMMAN, Nov 3 — The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) said Saturday that a vast majority of journalist killings worldwide went unpunished, the Jordan News Agency (Petra) reported.
In a report on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay said that in 2022 and 2023, a journalist was killed every four days simply for doing their essential work of seeking the truth.
She added that in most cases, no one was held to account for these murders.
She said 85 percent of the killings of journalists documented by Unesco since 2006 remained unsolved, with the State of Palestine recording the highest number of killings of journalists in 2023.
In a message on the occasion, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres pointed to an alarming rate of journalists being killed in conflict zones in recent years, particularly in Gaza, which has seen the highest number of journalists killings and media workers in any war in decades.
Guterres pointed out that the Pact for the Future, adopted in September, calls for respecting and protecting journalists, media professionals and associated personnel working in situations of armed conflict.
He urged governments to take urgent steps to protect journalists and investigate crimes committed against them and prosecute the perpetrators everywhere.
— Bernama
