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Reporters Without BordersMore journalists killed in “peace zone” than in “war zone”
Over the past 20 years, 1,668 journalists have been killed worldwide, according to the press freedom organization’s report released on Friday. 15 countries have concentrated 80% of victims since 2003.
Iraq and Syria dominate the ranking of the most dangerous countries for the profession.
AFP
From 2003 to 2022, 1,668 journalists were killed worldwide, an average of 80 per year, according to a report published on Friday by Reporters Without Borders. Iraq and Syria dominate the ranking of the most dangerous countries for the profession. “With a total of 578 killed in 20 years”, these two war-scarred states “collect, alone, more than a third of the reporters killed”, ahead of Mexico (125), the Philippines (107), the Pakistan (93), Afghanistan (81) and Somalia (78), with men accounting for over 95% of deaths. Since 2003, 80% of victims have been concentrated in 15 countries.
Over the past two decades, the “darkest” years date back to 2012 and 2013, with “respectively 144 and 142 murders of journalists, in particular due to the conflict in Syria”, underlines RSF. These deadly peaks were followed “by a gradual lull, then by historically low figures from 2019”, notes the organization for the defense of press freedom.
8 dead in Ukraine
But the death toll started to rise again in 2022, with 58 journalists killed in the line of duty, compared to 51 the previous year, due to the war in Ukraine. Eight journalists have lost their lives there since the Russian invasion in February, adding to the 12 journalists who had been killed there “in the previous 19 years”. Ukraine is thus in second place in the ranking of the most dangerous countries in Europe, behind Russia (25 killed in 20 years).
Concentrating nearly half of the journalists killed in 2022, the American continent is “today unquestionably the most dangerous for the media”
“Since Vladimir Putin came to power, attacks – including fatal ones – on freedom of the press have been systematic there, as RSF has often denounced, with in particular the emblematic liquidation of Anna Politkovskaïa on October 7, 2006. “, insists the NGO. With eight deaths recorded, France appears in fourth European rank, behind Turkey, “due to the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris in 2015”.
Globally, while coverage of armed conflict accounts for many deaths, over the past 20 years “more journalists have been killed in ‘peace zones’ than in ‘war zones’ because of their Organized Crime and Corruption Investigations”. Concentrating nearly half of the journalists killed in 2022, the American continent (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, etc.) is thus “undeniably the most dangerous for the media today”, according to RSF.
(AFP)