Journalists' Lives Matter, Too…
by Wanja Njuguna
• WANJA NJUGUNA
WHEN IN DECEMBER 2013, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2 November as International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, attention to journalists' lives being endangered was envisioned.
However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of attacks and threats against journalists worldwide.
To understand the enormity of what continues to befall journalists because of their work, statistics are important. And when those statistics are about deaths, incarceration without trial or the disappearance of colleagues in a profession that executive director of Information and Communications Technology Audrin Mathe called “a public good that must be protected, as protecting it is protecting democracy”, it should touch a raw nerve among those who understand the importance of journalism in society.
Mathe was speaking at the commemoration of the day in Windhoek on 2 November.
Since 1990, 2 658 journalists have been killed worldwide with the highest number recorded in 2012 when 124 journalists lost their lives.
With 61 journalists killed in 2022, the figure has already surpassed the 2021 statistic of 55, seen as one of the lowest since 2006 when 46 journalists were killed. Of the 61 killed in 2022, five are from Africa.
An extensive Unesco Report, 'Knowing the Truth is Protecting the Truth' documents that in 2021, the percentage of women journalists killed rose to 11% from 6% in 2020.
“This worrying development may be a reflection of women journalists being subject to online gender-based attacks which often spill over into offline violence, putting their safety at risk”, the report says.
In 2022, the dead include eight female journalists – Dilia Contreras (Colombia), Shireen Abu Akleh (Palestine), Sheila Johana Garcia Olivera, Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Lourdes Maldonado Lopez (Mexico) Francisca Sandoval (Chile), Oksana Baulina (Russian killed in Ukraine) and Oleksandra Kuvshynova (Ukraine).
Mathe's promise that Namibia will continue to provide a safe and enabling environment for journalists could not have come at a better time.
“As a country that fosters the values and principles of press freedom, this day reminds us to speak out against any form of injustice against journalists globally,” he was quoted as saying in this newspaper.
PROTECTION AND THE PUBLIC GOOD
Further, it is hoped that the recently passed Access to Information Bill, currently under review by the National Council, will soon become law.
The bill, which aims to promote public access to information held by public entities, compel public and private entities to proactively and promptly make information available, will go a long way in ensuring the abuse of journalists seen in other countries does not happen in Namibia.
For their part, journalists must ensure that they adhere to media ethics as stipulated in the codes of ethics of their institutions.
Mathe's sentiments concur with a European Union report commemorating the day which provides a glimpse on why journalists fall prey to killers: “The objective of the attacks is to silence journalists who act as public watchdogs, and ultimately to prevent the creation of a public civic space where citizens can have a democratic debate on issues of public interest.”
So, can the world do without journalists? Absolutely not. The world requires the watchdog facilitation and reporting of goings-on nationally and internationally.
Besides ensuring that journalists do not fall prey to those who wish to silence freedom of expression as a public good, it is critical that countries regarded as safe continue to remain so.
These countries should be at the forefront of consistently condemning and acting against killings of journalists and others as it is clear it can happen anywhere.
Recently a Pakistani journalist was killed in Kenya, a relatively safe haven for journalists and other people whose lives are in danger.
Arshad Sharif, who faced several death threats in his home country, Pakistan, was shot dead on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, under unclear circumstances.
According to Mian Muhammad Nadeem, deputy secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Sharif faced 20 police cases across Pakistan, including complaints of high treason.
Nadeem said Sharif was possibly in Kenya because it issues on-arrival visas to Pakistani citizens.
ALARMING
So, as the day was commemorated last Wednesday, it was heart breaking to note that the number of journalists killed this year alone is alarming.
When I started this article five days ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had listed 58 journalists and media workers killed. By the time of going to press, the number had reached 61.
Of the 61 dead, 17 were murdered, nine died in crossfire, 10 on dangerous assignments, and the rest were murdered in unknown circumstances.
The 2022 figures are already higher than those reported in 2021.
This year, Ukraine has the highest number of deaths – 15. One of the 15, 78-year-old Yevhenii Bal, a writer and journalist, died on 2 April after three days of severe beatings by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists.
Ukraine is followed by Mexico – 13; Haiti – 4; Philippines – 4; Somalia – 2; Chad – 2; Brazil – 2; Bangladesh – 2; Myanmar – 2; Honduras – 2; India – 2.
Others are Kenya – 1; Kazakhstan – 1; Guatemala – 1; Chile – 1; Ecuador – 1; Turkey – 1; Paraguay – 1; USA – 1; Yemen – 1; Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territory – 1; Colombia – 1.
EXTREME MEASURES
The extreme lengths killers can go to should not be forgotten. This was evident in one of the most gruesome murders of a journalist reported – that of 64-year old Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who fled to the US and was a columnist for the Washington Post.
The father of five is believed to have been ambushed by a 15-member assassination squad in Istanbul on 2 October 2018. He was strangled and his body dismembered and possibly dissolved in acid.
His articles sought freedom of expression for journalists in his motherland besides being a critic of goings-on in his country,
In January 2019, 11 Saudis went on trial accused of his murder. Five of them were sentenced to death, three were acquitted, while three others were sentenced to prison terms.
In May 2020, Khashoggi's children pardoned the five men seen as low-level participants.
BEHIND BARS
Whereas some escape death, others are incarcerated with or without trial.
According to the CPJ, by December 2021, 294 journalists were behind bars compared to 280 in 2020.
This year, Reporters without Borders reports that 41 journalists are behind bars in Iran, 31 of them in September alone, following unrest because of the murder of Mahsa Amini for 'improper clothing'.
China leads with 107 journalists behind bars, followed by Myanmar with 67.
In addition, 64 journalists have been reported missing, some since 1994.
Fifteen are from Africa: Libya - 4, Algeria -2, Rwanda -2, DRC -2, Tanzania -1, Burundi – 1. Mozambique – 1, Egypt – 1 and Côte d'Ivoire – 1.
Despite the sad statistics, it is important to note that there are concerted efforts to safeguard the lives of journalists worldwide.
The Unesco 'Knowing the Truth' report lists 10 key texts adopted on the safety of journalists and four key recent mechanisms adopted on the safety of journalists. The most recent key text calls on states to strengthen measures to prevent, protect and prosecute cases of violence, threats and attacks against journalists and media workers.
NAMIBIA
Though Namibia lost its top spot in Africa to Seychelles on the World Press Freedom Index 2022, it moved up from 24th to 18th position worldwide.
It is noteworthy that incidents of death, disappearance and incarceration of journalists have not been witnessed in this country.
Director of the Namibia Media Trust, Zoe Titus, said journalists in danger of being victimised are especially those who engage in investigative reporting of national issues that include public procurement and “find themselves in the cross hairs of politics, power and corruption”.
It is important therefore that Namibia continues to practise and support freedom of expression locally and internationally and, in the words of Mathe, “as a country that fosters the values and principles of press freedom, this day (2 November) reminds us to speak out against any form of injustice against journalists globally”.
* Wanja Njuguna is a senior lecturer at Nust's Journalism and Media Technology Department
