November 02, 2021

Crimes against journalists weaken democracy and remain mostly unpunished

topic:	Freedom of Expression
located:	Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Between 1990 and 2020, more than 2,600 journalists have been killed around the world, according to the report ‘White Paper on Global Journalism’, published by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last December. Although the Americas, regionally, occupy the second most violent position after Asia-Pacific, Mexico is among the deadliest countries, accounting for 178 of the 574 murders recorded in the continent. It is the second most dangerous place to be a journalist in the entire globe, only preceded by Iraq, which has documented 340 cases of murdered journalists.

A pattern emerges in the IFJ's analysis, as areas with high levels of war and armed conflict top the charts as the most dangerous regions. "Equally the pattern of the killing of journalists in Mexico, in most cases at the hands of organised crime, made this country the most dangerous in Latin America," reads the document. The situation is no better if we consider the year 2020 alone: of the 15 acknowledged murders of journalists in the Americas, 13 occurred in Mexico, while in 2021, another seven have been recorded so far.

A similar report by Statistica indicates that 14 other Latin American countries have witnessed the murder of at least one journalist since 2017: Colombia, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Ecuador, Barbados, Paraguay, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru.

Despite the frequency of these occurrences in Latin America, the IFJ denounces that only one in every 10 cases actually results in punishment for those responsible for the crimes. In some cases the murderers are not even identified. "This means that it is almost virtually risk-free to kill a journalist – murder has become the easiest and cheapest way of silencing troublesome journalists. Occasionally, a triggerman is identified and brought to trial, but in most cases paymasters go free," the IFJ concludes.

The United Nations also recalls that murder is only one type of threat against press workers - although certainly the most brutal. Journalists, however, also face "kidnapping, torture and other physical attacks to harassment, particularly in the digital sphere." Women and other minorities are even more vulnerable to attacks and harassment: 73 percent of female reporters declare to have suffered some kind of online violence, as read in the UNESCO report ‘The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists’. 

Racism, religious bigotry, homophobia and transphobia, for example, "intersect with misogyny and sexism to produce significantly heightened exposure and deeper impacts for women experiencing multiple forms of discrimination concurrently." In addition, black, indigenous, jewish, arab and lesbian female journalists are the most impacted by online violence.

In order to tackle this global problem, some international initiatives must be embraced by all countries. One example is the ‘Guidelines for prosecutors on cases of crimes against journalists’, organised by UNESCO and the International Association of Prosecutors. Also, the ‘Recommendation on the safety of journalists’, a document released on 15 September by the European Commission, highlights the necessity of maintaining the online and offline safeties of journalists, especially women and others reporting on equality issues.

On this 2nd November, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, governments must be compelled to carry out proper investigations and measures to end not just the impunity, but the crimes themselves. As long as being a journalist is a dangerous choice, democracy will also be in danger. 

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