UNESCO Report : One journalist was killed every 4 days in 2022-2023

According to the latest UNESCO report, the killings of journalists worldwide in the year 2022-2023 increased by 38% compared to the previous two years, with 162 verified deaths. "In 2022 and 2023, one journalist was killed every four days simply because he was doing his important work to search for the truth," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement. More than half of the killings in 2022 and 2023 took place in countries where armed conflict was going on, and most journalists were killed in their home countries. According to the report, other journalists were killed during their work on organized crime or corruption or while reporting on protests. In 2022, Mexico recorded the highest number of murders of journalists at 19, while in 2023, the highest number of 24 cases were recorded in the Palestinian territories.

Disturbing & deeply wrong:
Every 4 days a journalist is killed around the world for seeking & uncovering truth.

Yet, most of these murders remain unpunished.

We must #EndImpunity.
Everyone's freedom is at risk when journalists are attacked. https://t.co/fgnWJ0Q29L via @UNESCO pic.twitter.com/8VRTE3KgU1

— Melissa Fleming 🇺🇳 (@MelissaFleming) November 2, 2024

The report describes Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Arab countries as the most dangerous regions for journalists. While the least dangerous regions for journalists were North America and Western Europe, where there were 6 murders. Of the journalists killed in 2022-23, 14 were women, representing 9% of the total, according to the report.

The report shows that most cases go unpunished, with response data from individual countries showing that 85% of cases identified by UNESCO since 2006 are still unresolved or abandoned. This is a slight decrease compared to 2018, when 89% of cases remained unresolved, and compared to 2012, when the impunity rate was 95% overall.

"These crimes cannot go unpunished. Yet this is the case in around 85% of cases," Azoulay said. The biennial report by the Paris-based scientific and cultural organisation analyses the state of safety for journalists around the world.