Vold og trusler mod journalister får lov til at foregå stort set ustraffet, sagde FNs særlige rapporteur for fremme af ytringsfrihed i en usædvanlig dundertale til FNs sikkerhedsråd.
NEW YORK,13 December 2013 (UN News Service): With journalists facing frequent and often fatal violence both in conflict zones and stable countries, a United Nations expert Friday called on international bodies, including the Security Council, to take action against the scourge (svøbe), warning that impunity (straffrihed) is spawning a rising incidence in such attacks.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 1.017 journalists have been killed since 1992, 48 of them this year.
“Without paying systematic attention to all attacks against the press, without ending impunity, it is very difficult to ensure the safety of journalists,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, warned the Council during a special meeting on protection of journalists.
På Sikker-hedsrådets dagsorden
“Most cases of violence and threats against journalists are not investigated and those responsible are never identified, prosecuted or tried (retsforfulgt). The sense of impunity is a main cause for the recurrence of episodes (gentagne tilfælde) of attacks against journalists around the world,” he said.
He called on the 15-member Council, whose resolutions have the binding force of law, to pay greater attention to attacks against journalists and other threats to freedom of expression within its regular agenda.
At present the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), whose mandate includes defending press freedom, routinely condemns all attacks against the media, calling for the punishment of the perpetrators (gerningsmænd), but its condemnations lack the binding force of law.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=46736&Cr=journalist&Cr1=#.Uq77YNLuIik
