Iraq, Mexico, Syria and the Philippines are the four countries in the world where the most journalists have been murdered from 1993 to the present, according to data provided by the UNESCO Observatory of Murdered Journalists. The total number of journalists murdered worldwide over the last 25 years is 1,287.
Iraq has been the most dangerous territory for journalistic work during the last quarter century. A total of 193 journalists have been murdered in this country since 1993. The second most dangerous country in the world for journalists is Mexico, where 99 journalists have lost their lives in the analyzed period. And with practically equal figures are Syria (98 journalists murdered) and the Philippines (97).
In thirteen other countries, the number of murdered journalists has exceeded 20 over the last 25 years: Pakistan (70), Somalia (63), Afghanistan (62), Brazil (46), Colombia (39), Algeria and India (39), Honduras (37), Russia (35), Yemen (34), Libya (23), Palestine (21) and Bangladesh (20).
UNESCO maintains an updated interactive database with the details of each murder.
#TruthNeverDies
This Friday, November 2, 2018, marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, established by the United Nations five years ago.
According to stated by the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, this day "is an opportunity to assess the efforts made to respond to the safety problems faced by journalists in their investigative and publishing work, and to the impunity of the attacks and crimes they too often continue to suffer."
Azoulay pointed out that "certainly, in these five years significant progress has been made and public awareness and political leaders' awareness of the issue of impunity has increased," but much remains to be done.
Since 2006, UNESCO has condemned the murder of 1,010 journalists and media professionals, and nine out of ten cases have not been brought to justice.
For this reason, and with the aim of raising public awareness about the problem of impunity for crimes against journalists, UNESCO has launched a new international campaign for this November 2 with the slogan #TruthNeverDies ("Truth never dies").
The objective is "to encourage the publication of articles written by journalists murdered in the exercise of their profession, or in homage to them." To facilitate the dissemination of the campaign, UNESCO has developed a set of tools aimed at media outlets wishing to participate in the operation.
"We have a responsibility not to leave crimes against journalists unpunished and to guarantee them safe working conditions conducive to the development of a free and pluralistic press. Only under these conditions will we be able to build just, peaceful, and truly open societies to the future," said the Director-General of UNESCO.
Of the journalists murdered between 2006 and 2017, 93% were local and the remaining 7% were foreign correspondents or special envoys. 93% of the murdered professionals were men and 7% were women.