The year 2023 closes with at least 120 journalists and information professionals dead, two thirds of them as a result of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Eleven of the 119 murdered (in addition to one accidental death) were women and 71 percent occurred in the Middle East, with a clear predominance of Palestinians (75), in addition to four Israelis, three Lebanese and three Syrians.
The IFJ is running an ongoing campaign on the situation in the Gaza Strip, with the slogan “No story is worth a journalist’s life”.
Twelve journalists were murdered in the Asia-Pacific region: Indians (3), Afghans (2), Filipinos (2), Bangladeshis (2), Pakistanis (2) and Chinese (1).
In America, there were records of murders of journalists in Guatemala (3), Mexico (3), Colombia (1), the United States (1), Honduras (1) and Paraguay (1).
Eight communication professionals were murdered in seven countries on the African continent – Cameroon (2), Lesotho (1), Mali (1), Mozambique (1), Nigeria (1), Somalia (1) and Sudan (1) – and Rwanda recorded one accidental death.
Europe also appears on this map, with three journalists – a Frenchman, a Russian and a Ukrainian – killed in the ongoing war in Ukraine, and an Albanian communications professional.
“This year’s death data shows the urgency of a binding international instrument that forces States to adopt mechanisms to protect the safety and independence of journalists,” says IFJ Secretary General Anthony in a statement. Bellanger.
The IFJ recalls that it published a first list of journalism victims on December 8, in which it mentioned 94 murdered journalists and information professionals.
There are “too many situations” in which journalists “are deliberately targeted to cover up stories and limit the public’s right to information,” denounces the IFJ general secretary.
Source: TSF
