Culture of impunity

The last two years have been the deadliest for working journalists on record. In 2012 and 2013 a total respectively of 123 and 91 journalists and media or social media workers were killed bringing news to the public.

Of particular concern to organisations representing journalists is the deeply troubling culture of impunity which surrounds those responsible for the escalation of such killings, and not just in war zones. According to a new report on impunity by the Committee to Protect Journalists the vast majority of deaths were local journalists reporting on corruption, crime, human rights, politics and war, among other issues of vital importance to their societies.

And “in 90 per cent of all these cases there has been total impunity – no arrests, no prosecutions, no convictions. In some cases, the assassin or an accomplice has been convicted; in only a handful is the mastermind of the crime brought to justice.”

The group lists Iraq at the top of its "impunity league" followed by Somalia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. There have been a few cases where states have begun to take their responsibilities seriously – the report cites Serbia's work on historic cases, and both Pakistan and Kurdistan in individual case inquiries. But such examples of action remain exceptional.

The UN has declared tomorrow, November 2nd, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. And the UN has published an action plan setting out steps that states can take and providing the beginnings of a framework in which civil society groups, journalists, and states can co-ordinate new legislative initiatives and the building of institutional capacities to combat such impunity.

Above all, by publicly marking this day internationally – named to commemorate the specific deaths of two journalists in Mali on this day last year – it should be possible to begin to create the political will needed to confront the historic lethargy over the issue despite the sad reality that the world is daily becoming a more deadly place for those who would report it.