Responsibility to end impunity rests with UN member states
Today marked an important step in efforts to protect journalists, with the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva unanimously adopting a new resolution on the safety of journalists. Resolution 27/L7 reiterates, and strengthens the 2012 resolution (A/HRC/RES/21/12) agreed on by the same body.
Open government is unsustainable without a free press
This week, as he takes office as lead chair of the Open Government Partnership, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto will reaffirm the commitment of the more than 60 countries that make up this multilateral initiative, which seeks to enhance governance, promote citizen participation, and improve governments’ accountability to citizens.
James Foley’s killers pose many threats to local, international journalists
New York, August 20, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned for all journalists, most of them Syrians, still held captive by the Al-Qaeda splinter group Islamic State, which has repeatedly kidnapped, killed, and threatened journalists in the territories over which it holds sway. President Barack Obama confirmed today that the group is responsible…
Television anchor shot dead outside his home in Honduras
New York, August 19, 2014 — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of broadcast journalist Nery Francisco Soto Torres in Honduras on Thursday and calls on authorities to launch a full investigation, determine the motive, and bring those responsible to justice.
In Sri Lanka crackdown, mobs and death threats turned on journalists
There is genuine cause for alarm about the anonymous death threats going to Sunil Jayasekara’s phone. They started streaming to Jayasekara, the convener of Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement, an umbrella group (hence calling the leader a convener) of journalists’ organization in Sri Lanka, just before an FMM press conference on Saturday in Colombo.
Despite recent convictions, Anna Politkovskaya’s murder remains unsolved
Nearly eight years after Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in an elevator near her apartment, authorities appear to have made little progress identifying the mastermind behind her murder. Although five men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on June 9 for their roles in the slaying of the Novaya Gazeta journalist, her family…
Somali journalist killed by car bomb in Mogadishu
New York, June 23, 2014–Authorities in Somalia must immediately investigate the murder of a Somali journalist in Mogadishu on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yusuf Ahmed Abukar, who also used the name Yusuf Keynan, was killed when a bomb believed to be attached to his car exploded while he was on his…
CPJ calls on Pakistan to act on pledged commitments to press freedom
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif: We are writing to express our deep concern about the deteriorating climate for press freedom in Pakistan, which undermines recent commitments made by your government during CPJ’s mission to the country.