KABUL (Pajhwok): On the occasion of the International Day to end impunity of crimes against journalists, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said more than 70 journalists were killed in the world this year.
Meanwhile, the UN’s assistance mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it registered over 200 human rights abuses of journalists in Afghanistan during the past one year.
Today (November 2) is marked in different countries as the international day to end impunity of crimes against journalists.
Antonio Guterres on his twitter handle wrote that more than 70 journalists have been killed this year for simply fulfilling their vital role in society while the cases of most of these crimes go unsolved.
Guterres added: “We must end the common culture of impunity and enable journalists to do their essential work”.
Meanwhile, UNAMA said it recorded over 200 human rights abuses of journalists since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
UNAMA added: “Record high numbers include arbitrary arrests, maltreatment, threats and intimidation”.
While the United Nations culture agency, UNESCO, tweeted that in most cases (like murders), the perpetrators were not punished.
The organization said impunity for killing of journalists remains unacceptably high at 86 percent.
UNESCO added every week a journalist is murdered in the world and only one of 10 cases is investigated by relevant bodies.
It is worth mentioning that the acting government of Afghanistan has set up a media violation, monitoring and complaints commission headed by acting Minister of Information and Culture Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa.
Khairkhwa at a meeting with media outlets’ representatives expressed his commitment to addressing financial and other problems of the media.
aw/ma
GET IN TOUCH
NEWSLETTER
SUGGEST A STORY
PAJHWOK MOBILE APP