The International Federation of Journalists issued its first annual report of killed journalists in 1990.The journalists killed list would at a standstill be going 30 years later 2658 journalists were killed in the past thirty years. The IFJ casualty toll comprised all journalists, freelance as well as assistant staff such as drivers, fixers and translators who died during news gathering activities.
2658 journalists were killed in the last thirty years. Above 50 percent of journalists were killed in the ten greatest dangerous top countries which suffered from war, crime and corruption as well a catastrophic breakdown of law and order. Iraq (339 killed) came top followed by Mexico (175), Philippines (159), Pakistan (138) and India (116).
Iraq headed the table and was considered the most murderous country in the world for journalists, killings of journalists were scarce in the first ten years of this period. It was not until 2003, at the beginning of the Anglo-American invasion, that the numbers started increasing. Likewise in Afghanistan the numbers 93 shows the after affect of the US invasion in 2001.
The connection between deadly conflicts and increase in the murders of journalists was also presumed in the civil war in Algeria which created in 1993 and ended in 1996 – the large volume of the 106 killed journalists died in a little period of three years. This was also the example of the war in Syria which started in 2011, and is still happening, causing in 96 killed journalists over the previous nine years.
The long insurgency in Somalia is considered to be the most brutal in Africa for journalists. The killing of journalists in Mexico, in most cases involvement of organized crime, made this country the most risky in Latin America.
Journalists have been hit in large numbers since the 1970 and 80; Mexico will stay the most unsafe place for journalists in this universe. The Asia Pacific region comes first with about 681 killed journalists, succeeded by Latin America with approximately 571, the Middle East with 558, and Africa with about 466 and Europe with 373.Journalists who report on them are vulnerable to injury and kidnapping.
In latest years a new menace to journalists has come up with the involvement of terrorist organizations. About 75 percent of journalists killed around the world did not even die in a suicide bombing attack. They were murdered openly being killed by a gunman escaping on the back of a motorcycle or having been kidnapped and harassed. The innumerable devices adopted, both at UN and regional level, to strengthen the extent of treaty obligations, some of which acknowledge clearly the concern of privilege, are of course significant.
The problem of exemption is well acknowledged, but the big obstruction for the protection of journalists derives not from the range of the rights but from application deficiency. In spite of decline of journalists’ killings in recent years the lethal and menace journalists continue to counter for doing their work.
On December 2020, the IFJ says Latin America as the most perilous region with about 15 killings, succeeded by Asia Pacific on 13 murder cases. Africa and the Arab and Middle East region both registered six killings and are in third rank before Europe with two cases.IFJ study says about 235 journalists were in jail in the world.
At the minimum 235 journalists are in prisons in 34 countries around the world. It does not comprise other journalists facing charges but who have been released on bail. Particularly, the case in times of political disruption and civil unrest governments go for clampdown on media as a means of declining the public access to trustworthy information.
The study also noticed many more cases of journalists who were apprehended for short periods of time before being released without charges. Civil disturbances and elections- linked protests have also led to large arrests of journalists and other media experts, as was the case presently in Belarus.
In several cases, the IFJ’s research discovered that many journalists have not been charged with any crime for years after their arrest, even years for some who are now may be dead, for example in Eritrea.
In the Indian sub-continent, murders of journalists in Pakistan (138) and in India (116) have highlighted nearly each year in the list since 1990, is 40 percent of the total deaths of journalists in the Asia Pacific region. Pakistan once again came on a list of countries with the big number of journalists killed in the last 30 years is a damaging allegation of a state that has failed to safeguard the country’s media workers who a necessary role in a democratic system.
The International Federation of Journalists, that published a White Paper on Global Journalism, says that Pakistan is among the five nations considered the most dangerous countries for practice of journalism in the world. Pakistan has witnessed the deaths of 138 journalists since 1990. The report published in the same year in which the Freedom Network recorded at minimum 91 cases of violence.
This comprises murder, assault, menace and legal suits against journalists in Pakistan over the previous year. Sorrowfully even though few journalists are being murdered in Pakistan presently more of them are being scared, menaced, and punished than ever before.
The fact is that under which journalists in Pakistan operate is highly upsetting and points to the lessening space for criticism and free thinking. Though the numbers of killings have gone down, such fear is on the rise. Further little is done to tackle cases of murder and assassination attempts on journalists. Journalists in Pakistan often work in horrible and pitiable conditions to bring information and facts to members of the public.