.png)
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists: Bring the perpetrators to Justice!
On the #InternationalDaytoEndImpunityforCrimesagainstJournalists, we stand by all journalists who risk their lives to tell us the truth and we call on the governments worldwide to investigate and bring to justice perpetrators of these appalling crimes! Help us spread this message!
🚨 Philippine radio journalist Virgilio “Vir” Maganes: shot dead six times by men on a motor scooter.
🚨 Mexican journalist María Elena Ferral: shot dead after years of receiving death threats.
🚨 20-year old Nigerian Pelumi Onifade: found dead two weeks after being taken by the police while covering protests in Lagos.
🚨 Afghan female journalist Malalai Maiwand: shot dead by ISIL assassins while going to work.
🚨 Philippine journalist Jobert ‘Polpog’ Bercasio: shot dead after criticizing local illegal mining and deforestation.
Remember their names. Remember their stories.
🚫 They are just some of the 50 journalists and media workers who were killed in 2020. According to Reporters without borders, 84% of them were targeted on purpose and some of them were murdered in a barbaric and cruel way. Why? Because they spoke truth to power. Because they recently reported on issues that deserve to be heard and seen! Working on sensitive topics, many of them investigated organized crime, corruption scandals, or cases of environmental damage before their execution.
⚠️ According to UNESCO, 1480 journalists, including many female journalists, have been killed since 1993. These people risked their safety to show the truth to the world and make it a better place - and paid with their life! In times of increasing digitalization, attacks on journalists also move to the online sphere where especially women and marginalized women face sexual attacks and online gender-based violence!
❓ Still, perpetrators of many of these crimes go unpunished. Is the police complicit in these murders? Are the governments afraid of revealing the truth? Would investigation into the crimes endanger local elites and their business interests? Is this the price journalists have to pay for our freedom of expression and right to information?!
🗣️ Like&Share this post to join us in our call to the governments worldwide to:
👉🏼 Ensure the safety of all journalists
👉🏼 Guarantee fair investigation of these hideous crimes