UNESCO expects increase in killings of journalists in 2022-2023

A journalist’s car burns after it was hit by Israeli shelling in the border village of Alma al-Shaab with Israel, southern Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

PARIS, France (AFP) — Killings of journalists worldwide rose in 2022-2023 compared to the previous two years, the United Nations (UN) cultural body UNESCO said in a report on Saturday, with almost all cases remaining unpunished.

At 162 deaths, the number of journalists killed while working rose by 38 percent, the report said, calling the increase “alarming.”

“In 2022 and 2023, a journalist was killed every four days simply for doing his vital job of seeking the truth,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

She called on countries “to do more to ensure that these crimes never go unpunished.”

The highest number of murders occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, at 61 over the past two years, while the least deadly global region for journalists was North America and Western Europe, with six murders.

The report also found that the majority of journalists killed were killed in conflict zones in 2023 for the first time since 2017, with 44 deaths or 59 percent of that year’s total, reversing a years-long downward trend in conflict deaths.

Of the journalists killed in 2022-2023, 14 were women – nine percent of the total – while at least five were in the 15-24 age range.

Almost all killings of journalists remain unsolved, with 85% of cases identified by UNESCO since 2006 still unsolved or abandoned, according to country-by-country responses.

This marked some improvement on the default rate of 89% in 2018 and 95% in 2012.

But of 75 countries contacted by UNESCO for updates on open cases, 17 did not respond at all and nine only accepted the request.

Even in the 210 cases where the murders of journalists were solved, the average length of time was four years.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the report’s authors wrote.

UNESCO organizes an annual publicity campaign against impunity for the killing of journalists.

This year, it will hold a conference on the safety of journalists while reporting on crises in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on 6 November.