Press Freedom Day 2022
Geneva, 2 May 2022 (PEC): Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) is alarmed at the sharp deterioration of press freedom caused by the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the year, 52 media workers have paid with their lives for doing their job. In Russia, the Kremlin’s controls have created a regression in media space unprecedented since the communist era.
On the occasion of Press Freedom Day on 3 May, the PEC is making an urgent appeal for a halt to hostilities in Ukraine and for the independence of the media in Russia to be respected.
“The year-on-year increase in the number of journalists affected by violence is 116%, a very worrying development,” said PEC President Blaise Lempen. At least 21 media workers have been killed in the fighting in just over two months of war in Ukraine, many others were wounded, kidnapped, are missing, were threatened, hacked, forced to cease their work.
Access to the war zones in Ukraine is increasingly difficult and dangerous due to the volatile nature of the fighting. Some military units do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. PEC strongly condemns indiscriminate attacks targeting civilians.
“The war in Ukraine, as it was the case in Syria from 2011 to 2019, shows once again the difficulties of testifying for media representatives, in the absence of respect for humanitarian law,” denounced Blaise Lempen. The PEC hopes that the investigations carried out by several bodies will shed light on these crimes and that the justice system will be able to do its work impartially.
Russian journalists have also been injured in the fighting, but they have no freedom to report on the situation in the Russian-controlled territories. The measures taken by the authorities in Moscow against independent reporting are a big step backwards. Russian authorities should stop persecuting members of the press for allegedly spreading false information on the war in Ukraine. It is necessary to help Russian journalists who have been able to redeploy abroad.
Support for local Ukrainian media is essential. Many of them do not have the necessary equipment and financial means to continue working in the war zone. They have lost employees who were recruited by the army or who left their home regions for security reasons.