AT LEAST 21 journalists covering protests across the globe were attacked in the first half of 2020, equivalent to the number of similar attacks in the whole of 2017.
news
Nov. 3, 2020
STAFF REPORTER
2 min read
UN commemorates day to end crimes against journalists
The UN Secretary General António Guterres
This, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, during the commemoration of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
He said this during year’s edition of the global event, the world, including the media, faces an entirely new challenge - the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Guterres said the pandemic has highlighted new perils for journalists and media workers, adding that even as the number of attacks on their physical safety has grown.
He showed that there have also been additional constraints on the work of journalists, including threats of prosecution, arrest, imprisonment, denial of journalistic access and failures to investigate as well as prosecute crimes against them.
He said when journalists are targeted, societies as a whole pay a huge price, adding that if societies do not protect journalists, their ability to remain informed and make evidence-based decisions is severely hampered.
“When journalists cannot do their jobs in safety, the public loses an important defence against the pandemic of misinformation and disinformation that has spread online. Fact-based news and analysis depend on the protection and safety of journalists conducting independent reporting, rooted in the fundamental tenet: ‘journalism without fear or favour’.
“As the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic, I reiterate my call for a free press that can play its essential role in peace, justice, sustainable development and human rights,” Mr Guterres also noted.
Standing in solidarity with colleagues from all over the world, Namibian journalists held a peaceful protest on Monday.
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According to a statement released by the Namibia Media Trust, it is an opportunity to jointly focus attention on journalists who are being persecuted, forcibly disappeared or killed, with priority given to the numerous unsolved crimes against journalists.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed November 2 as the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ in General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/163.
The Resolution urged Member States to implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity.
The date was chosen in memory of the two French journalists who were assassinated in Mali on November 2, 2013.