End Impunity: “An urgent concern for societies around the world”

The CJA today joins the world-wide demand for an end to the impunity
that reigns when journalists and media workers are targeted for
harassment, attacks and murder.

On November 2, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against
Journalists, the CJA calls on news media to monitor the actions of their
governments and judicial authorities in implementing the UN Plan of
Action on the Safety for Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. It also
challenges governments to create safe environments for working
journalists.

The sad reality is that despotic leaders and criminals continue to freely
attack journalists whose work exposes crime, corruption, and repression of
rights. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 370 journalists
have been murdered in the past ten years in retaliation for their reporting.

The vast majority were local journalists reporting in small towns and rural
areas about human rights, politics, or war. In 90 per cent of cases there is
total impunity with no perpetrator convicted.
“Journalist safety and a free media are fundamental to freedom of
expression,” said Rita Payne, President of the Commonwealth Journalists
Association. “Ending the impunity for those who attack journalists is a
matter of urgent and legitimate concern for governments and societies
around the world.”

The CJA condemns all cases of killings, physical attacks, intimidation, and
wrongful imprisonment of journalists and media workers. It is dismayed at
the failure of many governments to end impunity for these violations of
human rights, and demands that all governments support journalist safety
and a free media as cornerstones of democracy.

Rita Payne, International CJA President London,UK
Pat Perkel, CJA Executive Director, Toronto, Canada