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From 2003 to 2022, nearly 1,700 journalists have been killed in the exercise of their profession, or 80 per year on average, according to a report published Friday by Reporters Without Borders. Iraq and Syria dominate the ranking of the most dangerous countries for the profession.
Journalists have paid a heavy price over the past 20 years. From Iraq to Syria via Russia and Mexico, in war zones as well as in peace zones, 1,668 journalists have been killed since 2003, deplores Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a report published on Friday 30 December.
Marked by war, Iraq and Syria dominate the ranking of the most dangerous countries over the period 2003-2022, with a total of 578 killed. They alone account for “more than a third of the reporters killed”, ahead of Mexico (125), the Philippines (107), Pakistan (93), Afghanistan (81) and Somalia (78), men accounting for more than 95% of deaths.
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Over the past two decades, the most “black” years date back to 2012 and 2013, with “respectively 144 and 142 murders of journalists, in particular due to the conflict in Syria”, underlines the French NGO.
These deadly peaks were followed “by a gradual lull, then by historically low figures from 2019”, notes the organization for the defense of press freedom.
Nearly 60 journalists killed in 2022
But the death toll started to rise once more in 2022, with 58 journalists killed in the line of duty, up from 51 the previous year. because of the war in Ukraine.
Eight journalists have lost their lives there since the Russian invasion in February, adding to the 12 journalists who had been killed there “in the previous 19 years”.
Ukraine is thus in second place in the ranking of the most dangerous countries in Europe, behind Russia (25 killed in 20 years).
“Since Vladimir Putin came to power, attacks – including fatal ones – on the freedom of the press have been systematic there, as has often been denounced by RSFwith in particular the emblematic liquidation of Anna Politkovskaïa on October 7, 2006″, insists the NGO.
“More journalists killed in peace zones than in war zones”
With eight deaths recorded, France appears in fourth European rank, behind Turkey, “due to the killing of Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015″.
Globally, while coverage of armed conflict accounts for many deaths, over the past 20 years “more journalists have been killed in peace zones than in war zones as a result of their investigations into the crime organized and corruption”.
Concentrating nearly half of the journalists killed in 2022, the American continent (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, etc.) is thus “today unquestionably the most dangerous for the media”, according to RSF.
With AFP