ISLAMABAD: As the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ is being observed on Tuesday, new data published by Unesco shows that killings of journalists declined globally by 20pc in the last five years (2016-2020) compared to the previous five-year period (2011-2015).

In its ‘World Trends Report Insight’ report, “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists” published on the occasion of the international day, Unesco says yet, the data also highlights that the level of impunity for crimes against journalists remains extremely high globally, with an impunity rate of 87 per cent, representing a similarly high rate to previous years, and that threats of violence against the media are on the rise.

Though killings of journalists have decreased by nearly 20pc in the past five years compared to the previous quinquennium, other types of attacks against journalists are numerous. For the period 2016–2020, Unesco recorded 400 killings of journalists.

Unabated levels of impunity for these cases correlate with increases in imprisonment and other attacks.

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists being observed today

The report records these trends, alongside new analysis that elucidates what is unique about violence against journalists. Also recorded are recent international and national level efforts to protect journalists and their vital work.

Between 2006 and 2020, over 1,200 journalists have been killed around the world, with close to 9 out of 10 cases of these killings remaining judicially unresolved, according to the Unesco.

Impunity leads to more killings and is often a symptom of worsening conflict and the breakdown of law and judicial systems.

Unesco is concerned that impunity damages whole societies by covering up serious human rights abuses, corruption, and crime. Governments, civil society, the media, and everyone concerned to uphold the rule of law are being asked to join in the global efforts to end impunity.

The report says the past five years also show the importance of considering other rising levels of threat against the safety of journalists, threats which not only violate press freedom and the right to free expression, but can also harm and intimidate journalists in ways that impact negatively on their ability to keep the public informed.

New Unesco analysis, using data on journalist imprisonment gathered by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), shows that globally, journalist imprisonment is inversely related to journalist killings: even as journalist killings decline, imprisonments are on the rise.

Countries with the highest numbers of killings tend to have relatively few imprisonments, while countries with many imprisoned journalists do not register similarly high levels of killings. Throughout, it is important to recognise that while these trends are considered globally, many countries continue to exhibit neither journalist killings nor imprisonment.

Since early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated these and other ongoing challenges to journalist safety. While the financial impact of the pandemic has threatened many media workers with salary cuts or job loss, even those who have been able to continue work face the risk of exposure to the virus and psychological trauma in covering the unprecedented health crisis.

The pandemic has further spurred freedom of expression, restricting legislation and policies, which addressed the spreading of “rumours” and disinformation around the pandemic but were often broad enough to be used to detain journalists for their coverage of the crisis and of government responses.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2021