PARIS, France
Killings of journalists and media workers surged 50 percent in 2022 to reach 86 worldwide, marking one death every four days, UN cultural body UNESCO said Monday.
"After several years of
consecutive declines, the steep rise in the number of journalists killed in
2022 is alarming," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a
statement.
"Authorities must step up
their efforts to stop these crimes and ensure their perpetrators are punished,
because indifference is a major factor in this climate of violence," she
added.
Last year's increase followed
three years with lower violence against reporters, with an average of 58
killings annually in 2019-21.
UNESCO found that no one was
brought to justice in 86 percent of cases.
Motives for killings of
journalists included "reprisals for reporting on organized crime, armed
conflict or the rise of extremism, and covering sensitive subjects such as
corruption, environmental crimes, abuse of power and protests," UNESCO
said.
At 44, more than half the
journalists killed in 2022 were in Latin America and the Caribbean.
And three-quarters of the
killings took place outside of full-scale conflicts.
Mexico was the deadliest
individual country with 19 journalists killed, followed by Ukraine, which has
been battling the Russian invasion, at 10 dead and Haiti at nine.
UNESCO found that around half
the journalists it recorded killed last year were off duty at the time, struck
"while travelling, in their homes, or in parking lots and other public
places where they were not on assignment".
The trend "implies there
are no safe spaces for journalists, even in their spare time," the body
added.
Beyond killings, reporters can face "multiple forms of violence" including "enforced disappearance, kidnapping and arbitrary detention, legal harassment and digital violence, particularly against women," UNESCO said.
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