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On Wednesday, The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said that Syria is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world, as it published its annual impunity index, tracking unsolved killings of reporters. The New York-based watchdog reported “a rising number of journalists in Syria.
“With unprecedented numbers of abductions and high rates of fatalities in combat and crossfire, Syria was already the world’s most dangerous country for journalists”, the CPJ said. It added that Iraq still has the worst record for solving murders of journalists according to its research, with Somalia coming in second and Philippines in third.
Ever since they started their survey in 2008, Iraq has always topped the rankings, with 100% impunity in 100 cases. In 2012, no journalists were killed in action related to their work in Iraq in 2012, a first since the rankings began. However, that number spiked up to 10 in 2013, with nine of them having been murdered. Additionally, four journalists were murdered in Somalia in 2013.
“Elusive armed insurgent groups have terrorized the media beyond the reach of Somalia’s fragile law and order institutions, but authorities have also failed to adequately investigate attacks by other sources”, the CPJ said. The Impunity Index gives the number of unsolved journalist murders in a country as a percentage of its population. There have to be at least five unsolved journalist murders in the country for it to be on the list. In 2013, a total of 12 countries were on the list; 13 countries have already met that criterion this year. The CPJ added that 96% of the casualties are local journalists, most of whom cover corruption, war and politics. The list for 2014, in order, is as follows –
- Iraq – 100 unsolved cases
- Somalia– 26 unsolved cases
- Philippines– 51 unsolved cases
- Sri Lanka– 9 unsolved cases
- Syria– 7 unsolved cases
- Afghanistan– 5 unsolved cases
- Mexico– 16 unsolved cases
- Columbia– 6 unsolved cases
- Pakistan– 22 unsolved cases
- Russia– 14 unsolved cases
- Brazil– 9 unsolved cases
- Nigeria– 5 unsolved cases
- India– 7 unsolved cases
