By Justin Hsieh, Staff Writer
Today, Nov. 2, is the inaugural day of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) new #TruthNeverDies media campaign. It marks the fifth annual International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (IDEI), the day that was created by the United Nations (UN) in 2013 to honor the hundreds of journalists murdered and imprisoned every year just for reporting. This year, UNESCO is working with media organizations around the world to publish the work of reporters who have been killed on the job with the goal of keeping their causes alive and bringing awareness to the scale of abuses that journalists face.
“UNESCO is encouraging people, that is, the public, journalists and politicians alike, to keep alive the project and the memory of assassinated or intimidated reporters,” said Guy Berger, UNESCO Director for Freedom of Expression and Media Development.
You don’t have to look far to find proof that journalism is a dangerous profession. In 2018 alone, 73 journalists have been killed and 318 have been imprisoned as a direct result of their work. Furthermore, only 11% of murders in 2016-2017 were judicially resolved, meaning that 89% of killers faced no consequences for their actions (in other words, they murdered with impunity). Even in the United States, one of the greatest traditional strongholds of the free press, five journalists have been killed, and 40 have been physically attacked in 2018. These staggering numbers make it clear why the UN is so concerned.
The UN has a long history of being invested in the freedom and safety of reporters, ever since it enshrined the freedom of expression and information in Article 19 of its Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The UN General Assembly, Security Council, and Human Rights Council have all passed resolutions condemning violence against journalists and calling for countries to protect their rights, and UNESCO delivers a biannual Director General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity. The General Assembly resolution that established IDEI chose the date in memory of two French journalists who were assassinated on Nov. 2, 2013, while on assignment in Mali.
For its new campaign, UNESCO has created several banners and images for media organizations to publish on their websites and social media. UNESCO also has a site that showcases the stories of 14 journalists from around the world who were murdered for their work.
