The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163 at its 68th session in 2013 which proclaimed November 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI). The Resolution urged member states to implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity.
The UN has revealed that over the past decade, more than 800 journalists have been killed for bringing news and information to the public. Worryingly, only one in ten cases committed against media workers over the past decade has led to a conviction.
The United Nations is of the view that this impunity emboldens the perpetrators of the crimes and at the same time, has a chilling effect on society, including journalists themselves. Impunity breeds impunity and feeds into a vicious cycle.
The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on November 2, 2013.
This landmark resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers. It also urges member states to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability, bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers, and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies. It further calls upon States to promote a safe and enabling environment for journalists to perform their work independently and without undue interference.
According to a UNESCO report, violence against the press, whether in the form of harassment, threats, kidnappings, illegal detainment, physical attacks, or murder, is an assault not only on civilians, but on the very dispersion of information and thus on liberty and democracy. Of the numerous types of aggression journalists face across the world, all can effectively stunt freedom of expression.
With the fatal assault on Charlie Hebdo at the start of 2015, and the persistent sprouting of new statistics each year, it is evident that oppressive violence against journalists is not dissipating. The UNESCO Director General’s 2014 Report records 593 killings of journalists between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2013. From the limited information received from UNESCO member states about these killings, only 39 out of the 593 cases were advised as being resolved, representing less than seven per cent of total cases.
According to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 1139 journalists have been killed since 1992 worldwide. The impunity associated with this epidemic of violence both perpetuates and strengthens this mode of oppression as perpetrators react to the reality that such actions will, more often than not, bring no legal consequences. Of the 1139 journalists killed since 1992, 756 were confirmed murdered. Murder here is defined as “a deliberate attack against a specific journalist in relation to the victim’s work”. The report further revealed that 660 of these cases were never investigated.
The findings of the same report found that female journalists, however, frequently face other forms of persecution, such as harassment, threats, and rape. A 2013 study of 1000 women working in media found that about 66 per cent had experienced some sort of intimidation throughout their career. The historic and current impunity results in self-censorship by journalists and media workers, and violates not just hundreds of people’s safety, but freedom of expression for everyone.
Simply put, violence against members of the press is an attack on freedom of expression, which in turn is an attack on democracy and human rights. International organisations have long recognised that an attack on the press is an assault on fundamental principles of democracy, namely “transparency, accountability, as well as the right to hold opinions and to participate in public debates”. Assaults against media workers suppress one’s right to access and attain information as well as to express and share ideas. Impunity for these crimes enhances this suppression of rights, as there is little disincentive for committing such acts and thus the violent cycle is perpetuated.
As the Inter-American Court emphasised, “Freedom of expression is a cornerstone upon which the very existence of a democratic society rests. It is indispensable for the formation of public opinion. It is also a condition sine qua non for the development of political parties, trade unions, scientific and cultural societies and, in general, those who wish to influence the public. It represents, in short, the means that enable the community, when exercising its options, to be sufficiently informed. Consequently, it can be said that a society that is not well informed is not a society that is truly free.”
