World Press Freedom Day: Decrease in the number of journalists killed in 2023
PEC

Geneva, 2 May 2023 (PEC) The number of journalists killed in the period January to April 2023 has fallen compared to the same period last year, the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said on Tuesday on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.
Since January, 16 media workers have been killed, the lowest number in the past 15 years, according to the same criteria.
“This figure is still too high, but if this trend continues, it is finally good news,” said PEC President Blaise Lempen.
In the same period last year, marked by the first weeks of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, 56 journalists were killed (116 in 29 countries over the whole year). The first four months of 2023 represent a decline of 71%.
The status quo in the fighting in Ukraine partly explains this sharp decrease: only one journalist has been killed so far this year in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities have also taken measures to limit media access to combat zones.
However, the PEC is concerned about the reported resumption of larger-scale clashes in Ukraine and reminds all sides that media workers are protected as civilians by the Geneva Conventions.
Since January, two journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, two in Cameroon, two in Haiti and two in Mexico.
One journalist was killed in Bangladesh, one in Canada, one in the USA, one in Guatemala, one in India, one in Paraguay and one in Ukraine.
The case of a journalist who died in a suspicious manner in Rwanda remains under investigation.
The PEC strongly condemns these killings and calls for those responsible to be promptly identified and brought to justice.

Russia, Israel and Assange
Despite this improvement in the number of victims, there are various situations of great concern. Press freedom is in decline in Afghanistan, Burma, Iran and Russia. The arrest of a Wall Street Journal journalist by Russian security services on 30 March marks a further escalation in the repression of the media in Russia. PEC has called for the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich.
PEC also denounces the obstruction of the work of Palestinian journalists during the past weeks of violence in the occupied territories. A dozen Palestinian journalists have been assaulted or injured by Israeli security forces. The PEC furthermore regrets that a journalist with dual Swiss and Palestinian nationality has been in administrative detention on a Negev prison in Israel for more than a year, without reasons.

PEC also deplores the fact that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a British prison for four years without trial. PEC reiterates its demand that he be released on humanitarian grounds and that the charges against him be dropped by the US.
This year in New York, UNESCO is celebrating the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on 3 May 1993, on the theme “Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights”.

List of victims on: https://pressemblem.ch/casualties.shtml
02-05-2023
Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking. You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com ( For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)