Reporters Without Borders Calls for Special UN Rep for Safety of Journalists B92
go to original November 2, 2015

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (Al Jazeera English)

Reporters Without Borders has called on the UN to create the position of a special representative of the secretary- general for the Safety of Journalists.

The initiative was launched to mark November 2, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ (IDEI).

The press freedom organization urged the UN to create the position as soon as possible, and said in a statement that "despite various resolutions adopted on this topic in the past decade, including by the Security Council and the General Assembly, the statistics of journalists killed in the course of their work remain very troubling."

During the last ten years, more than 700 reporters have been killed in the line of duty, the RDF said, and added that on May 27, Resolution 2222 was adopted by the UN Security Council.

RSF’s Secretary General Christophe Deloire addressed the ambassadors of the Security Council hailing this historic resolution but also calling for concrete action:

“These legal advances have not been translated into action if we are to judge by the number of journalists killed each year. The issue regarding safety of journalists is not an absence of applicable law but rather a lack of means of ensuring compliance. Only a Special Representative working closely with the UN Secretary General will have the political weight, the capacity to act quickly, and the legitimacy to coordinate with all UN bodies to implement change”.

A special representative as proposed by the RSF "would have the main task of monitoring compliance by United Nations member states with their obligations under international law."

Read the rest at B92

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!