DUSHANBE, December 29, 2015, Asia-Plus — Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on December 29 that a total of 110 journalists were killed around the world in 2015.
The watchdog group warned that more journalists were being deliberately targeted for their work in supposedly peaceful countries.
Sixty-seven journalists were killed in the line of duty this year, and another 43 died in circumstances that were unclear, RSF said in its annual roundup. Another 27 non-professional “citizen-journalists” and seven other media workers were also killed.
The group blamed the shift in journalists being killed outside war zones as a “disturbing situation [that] is largely attributable to deliberate violence against journalists and is indicative of the failure of the initiatives so far taken to protect media personnel.”
In particular, the report shed light on the growing role of “non-state groups” – often militants such as the Islamic State group – in perpetrating atrocities against journalists.
In 2014, it said, two-thirds of the journalists killed were in war zones. But in 2015, it was the exact opposite: “Two-thirds were killed in countries ‘at peace’.”
“The creation of a specific mechanism for enforcing international law on the protection of journalists is absolutely essential,” said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire in a statement.
“Non-state groups perpetrate targeted atrocities while too many governments do not comply with their obligations under international law.”
“The 110 journalists killed this year need a response that matches the emergency. A special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for the safety of journalists must be appointed without delay.”
The 67 deaths bring to 787 the total number of journalists who were murdered, knowingly targeted or killed in the course of their work since 2005, the Paris-based organization said. In 2014, there were 66 such fatalities.
War-torn Iraq and Syria were the most dangerous places in the world this year for journalists, with 11 and 10 fatalities respectively, the RSF report found.
In Syria, the northern town of Aleppo was described as “a minefield” for professional and citizen-journalists alike.
“Caught between the various parties to the conflict since 2011, journalists are liable to end up as collateral victims, being taken hostage by a non-state group (such as Islamic State, the Al Nusra Front or the Free Syrian Army) or being arrested by the Assad regime,” RSF said.
Those murdered in Syria included Japanese freelance reporter Kenji Goto, whose execution by the Islamic State group was unveiled in a macabre video in January.
Third on the list was France, where eight journalists were killed in a militant assault in January on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an assault that shocked the world.
Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), is a France-based international non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press. The organization has consultant status at the United Nations.
RSF has two primary spheres of activity: one is focused on
internet censorship
and the
new media
and the other on providing material, financial and psychological assistance to journalists assigned to dangerous areas.
Its missions are to: continuously monitor attacks on freedom of information worldwide; denounce any such attacks in the media; act in cooperation with governments to fight censorship and laws aimed at restricting freedom of information; morally and financially assist persecuted journalists, as well as their families; and offer material assistance to war correspondents in order to enhance their safety.
