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04 January 2007
United Nations resolution seen as
major step in protecting journalists worldwide
Organizations that promote and defend
free expression and press freedom enter 2007 buoyed
by a United Nations resolution that calls on member
states to do more to protect media workers operating
in war zones.
Resolution 1738, adopted unanimously
two weeks ago by the UN Security Council at the end
of a record year for the murder of journalists, is
also widely seen as a notice to governments around
the globe that attacks on journalists — including
those that are state-sponsored — will not be
tolerated.
More important perhaps, says
Arnold Amber, Director of TNG Canada/CWA, is the
resolution's "emphasis
on states' responsibility to end impunity and bring
to justice those responsible for crimes against journalists."
Amber, who also serves as President
of the Board of Directors of Canadian
Journalists for Freedom of Expression (CJFE) and in that capacity
has attended many international conferences on protecting
journalists so they can do their jobs, notes there
are "four or five incredible
irritants that put journalists in jeopardy."
Chief among them is "supposedly democratic countries
that don't track down and bring to justice the killers
of journalists." Lest Canadians feel smug about
this country's track record, Amber points to the killing
in November 1998 of Tara
Singh Hayer, the prestigious
editor of British Columbia's Indo-Canadian
Times. Despite
the fact he'd received numerous death threats and survived
one assassination attempt for his outspoken coverage
of the Indo-Canadian community, no arrests have been
made in his murder.
"Free expression and a free press is critical
to a true democracy," says Amber. When individuals
and states, by whatever method — censorship,
harassment, imprisonment, physical assaults and death — silence
their critics, all freedoms and rights are undermined,
he says.
The UN resolution regarding
protection of media workers covering armed conflicts
is especially important, says Amber, "because
terrible things happen in war zones. The media are
our eyes and ears on what is happening on the ground.
And they are witness to atrocities that would otherwise
go unreported, allowing the perpetrators to get away
with any number of reprehensible acts."
The International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ), with which TNG Canada is affiliated,
hailed the UN resolution as a "ground-breaking decision by world
leaders" to do something about the media carnage
in Iraq, "where more than 60 journalists and media
staff have died this year alone — out of a record
163 media killings recorded by the IFJ during 2006."
“At last the international community has woken
up to the crisis caused by targeting of media staff,” says
Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “Now we want
to see these fine words turned into action with the
naming and shaming of countries that turn a blind eye
to impunity in the killing of media workers and journalists.”
The IFJ news release notes that, although UN agencies
like UNESCO have drawn attention to problems facing
journalists over the years, this is the first time
one of the main bodies of the United Nations has taken
up the issue.
“This is an important breakthrough and recognises
that the killing and targeting of journalists must
stop,” says White. “We shall campaign now
for action at regional and national levels to reduce
the risks to media staff and to bring the killers of
journalists to justice.”
The resolution asks the Secretary General to address
the safety and security of journalists in his regular
reports on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.
“This last point is significant,” says
White. “From now on we can expect the United
Nations to identify and highlight those nations that
are failing to protect journalists.”
Reporters
Sans Frontieres (RSF
or Reporters Without Borders), which puts the number
of reporters and media assistants killed in 2006
at 113, says Resolution 1738 "draws
upon the fundamental principles of press freedom and
reasserts the necessity of preventing violence against
journalists and bringing to justice those responsible
for these crimes." (RSF includes journalists in
its death count only when it is certain that their
deaths are linked to their work as journalists.) |
Eminent journalist Tara Singh Hayer was murdered in B.C. in 1998. To date, no one has been charged. 