WUNRN
International Federation of Journalists Report on Journalists & Media Staff Killed in 2014 - Women
26 February 2015
- The
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has today published its full
report on journalists and media staff killed last year in targeted killings,
cross fire incidents as well as work-related accidents.
Direct Link to
Full Report: http://ifj-safety.org/assets/docs/089/245/5bef559-ba3edf5.pdf
The 24th
IFJ annual report calls for a united front to deliver safety in journalism,
after 118 killings of journalists and 17 deadly accidents recorded in 2014. The
IFJ says that last year’s death toll confirmed the increasing violence against
journalist which has reached record levels in the last decade.
“In this regard,
2014 provided more of the same and much worse,” said IFJ General Secretary Beth
Costa. “The beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff
by the so-called Islamic State shocked the most hardened risk-taker of media
professionals. The journalists were used as pawns and publicly executed in
furtherance of a depraved political agenda.”
The 2014 report
confirms that Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine were
the most deadliest countries in the world. It ranks Asia Pacific as the most
dangerous region with 39 killings, followed by the Middle East (31), Latin
America (26), Africa (17) and Europe (9).
War violence,
deliberate and reckless attacks on journalists during armed conflicts are among
the major causes of loss of life but the report cites the lack of
accountability for crime targeting journalists as the main factor for violence
against them.
However, the
report welcomes a few encouraging developments in the fight against impunity
which were registered last year. They included the first conviction of a
Pakistani journalist’s murderer and the arrest of journalists’ killers in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
There was also a
legal victory for the IFJ and the family of Dyda Hydara, a prominent Gambian
journalist who was murdered in 2004, after the Human Rights Court of the
Economic Organisation of West African States (ECOWAS) found in favour of their
joint application and ordered the Gambian government to re-open an
investigation into the journalist’s murder.
The report also
noted the various initiatives by the IFJ in 2014 to improve the safety of
journalists, including training, the collaboration with the Council of Europe
on monitoring violations of journalists’ rights and fact-finding missions to
countries where journalists are most under threat such as Mexico and Palestine,
to highlight the need for accountability.
“Journalists face
serious challenges which require collective action and long term strategy to
overcome them,” added Costa. “The IFJ, working with its unions and partners, is
committed to meeting these challenges in a united and resolute front to deliver
safety in journalism.”
The IFJ
international code of practice for the safe conduct of journalism and the
report on the IFJ International Safety Fund are also included in the report.
The full report
can be accessed here