UN launches worldwide campaign to support journalists
Photo by blogs.state.gov
On February 22, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the safety of journalists and announced the launch of a grassroots campaign “A Day Without News.”
The campaign aims at drawing attention to the journalists who have been intimidated, arrested and prosecuted, the UN News Centre reports.
“A day without news may seem unthinkable in this connected and globalized world. Yet every day, the voices of the news are being silenced. A journalist is killed every week, and 9 out of 10 of those cases go unpunished,” the Secretary-General said in his video message.
Ban Ki-moon stressed that “in the last ten years, more than 600 journalists have been murdered. Many more suffer from intimidation, harassment and death threats.”
Last year, 121 journalists were killed. Forty-one of these deaths took place in Syria.
“Every murder represents a day without news, a day when society as a whole is weakened,” said the United Nations Secretary-General. He stressed that the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity for those who attack them means the protection of freedom of expression and the right to life, liberty and security.
