59 journalists killed so far this year

GENEVA, Monday

Fifty-nine journalists have been killed because of their work in the first six months of this year, up from 53 for the same period last year, the Press Emblem Campaign said today.

The highest toll was in Mexico, where nine were killed in the six months to June because organised crime was “hunting journalists”, the Geneva-based non-government organisation said in a statement.
The other most dangerous countries for the media were Honduras, where eight journalists were killed, Pakistan (six), Nigeria (four) and the Philippines (four).

PEC secretary general Blaise Lempen said in the statement that journalists “are extremely exposed in countries which witness internal problems”.

Mr Lempen said “governments and the international community must act in firmness to stop those killings and bring the perpetrators of those crimes to justice”. Three journalists were killed in Russia, three in Colombia and two in Iraq, Nepal, Thailand and Venezuela.

One journalist was killed in Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cyprus, Ecuador, Israel, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Turkey, Somalia and Yemen.

Mr Lempen said the reasons for the killings varied from the organised crime in Mexico to tribal tensions in Pakistan and Nigeria, and settling political disputes in the Philippines, the Russian Caucasus and in Nepal. (AFP)