UNITED NATIONS: The adoption by consensus of a new resolution on the safety of journalists world over by the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee on Friday was hailed by Reporters Without Borders.

The journalist advocacy group called for the appointment of a special adviser to the UN Secretary General to ensure that it was effectively implemented.

Proposed by France, Greece, Austria, Argentina,Costa Rica and Tunisia and co-sponsored by more than 80 countries, the resolution is expected to be approved by the General Assembly next month.

The resolution contains similar advances to those in last year’s UN General Assembly resolution on the same subject, but goes further on several points, namely in the range of abuses against journalists identified, on combating impunity for crimes against journalists and on surveillance of their communications.

Published in Dawn, November 23th , 2014