The World Association of Newspapers will use World Press Freedom Day
on 3 May to highlight the way killers of journalists are evading
justice.
The moves come as WAN revealed that its death toll for
journalists killed last year was 71, compared with 53 in 2003, 46 in
2002, 60 in 2001 and 53 in 2000. WAN’s toll was its highest for a
single year since 1994, when 73 journalists were killed.
WAN director general Timothy Balding said:”Around the world, hundreds of journalists have been killed in the past decade.
“In more than two-thirds of the cases, no-one has been brought to justice, much less convicted.
“Many
of the killers are never caught or prosecuted and WAN will focus its
activities for World Press Freedom Day on ‘Impunity – Getting Away With
Murder’.”
The IFJ’s death toll for 2004 was 129.
Several press freedom organisations track the number of journalists killed.
The numbers vary, based on the criteria used by the different groups.
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