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 Iraq has the worst record for failing to solve murders of
journalists but some countries at peace such as the Philippines, Mexico
and India also scored poorly, a journalism watchdog said on Wednesday.
Iraq has the worst record for failing to solve murders of
journalists but some countries at peace such as the Philippines, Mexico
and India also scored poorly, a journalism watchdog said on Wednesday.
There are 79 cases of unsolved murders of journalists in Iraq and
most of them had been targeted because of their work, not caught in
crossfire, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
said in a report released at the United Nations.
The CPJ worked out its "Impunity Index" by compiling the number of
unsolved journalist murder cases between 1998 and 2007 and dividing it
by the size of a country's population.
Iraq became the world's most dangerous country for the press after
the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein and
sparked insurgency and sectarian strife, the CPJ said. Most of the
victims have been Iraqis.
Second on the index is the West African state of Sierra Leone, where
an 11-year civil war ended in 2002. Nine journalist murders remain
unsolved, including one dating from 2005.
Third is Somalia, which has been in turmoil for the past 17 years and also has five unsolved murder cases.
The report noted most countries on its index are democratic, not at
war and have functioning law enforcement systems. "Yet journalists are
regularly targeted for murder and no one is held accountable," the CPJ
said.
It highlighted the Philippines, which placed sixth on the index and where no convictions had been obtained in 24 cases.
"Journalists covering corruption, crime and politics have repeatedly been targeted with violence," it said.
In Russia, ranked ninth with 14 unsolved cases, business, official
corruption and human rights abuses were among the most dangerous beats,
the CPJ said. Victims included investigative reporter Anna
Politkovskaya, shot in 2006, and American journalist Paul Klebnikov,
who was killed in 2004.
In Mexico, which was rated 10th with seven cases, journalists
covering drug trafficking, organized crime and corruption were at risk,
the report said. India, the world's largest democracy, had five cases,
all local reporters.
The CPJ listed the following 13 countries on its index in order of
impunity: Iraq, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Colombia, Sri Lanka,
Philippines, Afghanistan, Nepal, Russia, Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan
and India. It noted that six of those were in South Asia.
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