UN Secy Gen urged to take action on journalist safety
UNB
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a meeting to take steps to address the urgent issue of safety of journalists on Friday, reports UNB.
Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of RSF and Joel Simon, Executive Director of CPJ met United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres to discuss the--ProtectJournalists campaign to appoint a UN Special Representative for the safety of journalists, said a press release.
On behalf of RSF, I welcome Secretary General Guterres strong personal commitment to the safety of journalists and a free and independent press, said Christophe Deloire.
The UNSG believes that these issues are fundamental to democracy and human rights and has pledged to take action. Were counting on him to make the UN more efficient so that journalists can be better protected, he added.
As journalists around the world are increasingly under attack physically and verbally its encouraging and gratifying to have this kind of support from the secretary general, said Joel Simon.
Statistics show that despite various UN resolutions related to safety of journalists and combating impunity, there have been few concrete results on the ground.
In fact, the past five years have been the deadliest on record for journalists, with hundreds of journalists killed and many more attacked simply for doing their jobs. RSF reported that 78 journalists were killed in the year 2016 alone and impunity remains the norm, with full justice in only 3 percent of journalist murders in the past decade, according to CPJ research.
