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Journos want better protection
22/12/2003 19:22 - (SA)
Brussels - The number of journalists killed over the past year in the line of their work rose to 83, the International Federation of Journalists said in a report on Monday that blamed official indifference as well as war for heightening the risks facing the media worldwide.
The number of media casualties - due principally to the war in the Iraq as well as continuing insurgencies in Colombia and the Philippines - was up from 70 in 2002, the Brussels-based lobby group said.
"War, regional conflict, organised crime and government indifference are the greatest obstacles to justice for journalists and their safety," IFJ general secretary Aidan White said.
"We see journalists being targeted for their work in many parts of the world, but many governments simply don't care about what these tragedies mean for democracy and free expression," he said.
The IFJ said it would observe on April 8, 2004 an international day of protest to mark the first anniversary of a US tank shell attack on a hotel housing the international press in Baghdad which killed two cameramen.
The IFJ reiterated its demand for an independent investigation into that attack, as well as into the killing of ITN journalist Terry Lloyd near Basra in March and several other deaths of journalists in Iraq.
The organisation said at least seven journalists had been killed in Colombia and three in the Philippines during 2003.
The IFJ said the rising death toll among the media underlined the need for changes in international law "to ensure that targeting of journalists and negligence in the protection of journalists are made war crimes".
"In far too many instances the problem of impunity, and the failure of officials to properly investigate killings of media staff, remains a persistent obstacle to justice for journalists and media staff who are killed," White said.
- AFP
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