The death of 65 journalists, 38 of them in conflict zones, led UNESCO to classify the year 2023 as lethal, despite the decrease in the number of victims in the absolute count compared to last year (88).
“This decrease in absolute terms hides a very alarming phenomenon: the pronounced increase in the number of murders in conflict zones,” warned this Tuesday the director general of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). , Audrey Azoulay, in a statement.
The countries where UNESCO recorded the most deaths in conflict zones were the same as those already reported by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) organization in its latest annual report: Palestine (19), Lebanon (3) and Israel (2).
All the deaths of media professionals recorded by the UN agency in these three territories occurred after the attacks by the Islamist group Hamas on Israel, and not since the beginning of the year, according to RSF.
Afghanistan, Cameroon, Syria and Ukraine were also the scene of several journalist deaths, with at least two victims in each.
The decrease in mortality occurred mainly in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, where 15 murders were recorded this year compared to 43 in 2022.
These figures do not include the deaths of journalists and communication professionals in circumstances unrelated to their profession.
Threats, physical attacks, arrests and confiscation of equipment are other risks to which these professionals are exposed, according to this international organization.
A situation that, he guaranteed, could generate “zones of silence”, that is, inaccessibility of citizens to information in areas where it is crucial.
Source: TSF
