The Iraq war has officially become the most deadly conflict since the Second World War for journalists, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists. The death toll now stands at 103 since the beginning of the conflict in 2003. Most of the deaths in Iraq are not the result of crossfire but of murder.
An article in The L.A. Times cites 2006 as the most deadly year on record for journalists worldwide, with at least 155 homicides and unexplained deaths. The Press Emblem Campaign, a Geneva-based NGO, says media casualties have gone up 38 per cent since last year.
The most common nationality of journalist victims is Iraqi, and the most dangerous area is, not surprisingly, Baghdad. Thirty-nine journalists have been abducted in Iraq, mostly European and some American. It must be noted that these statistics offered by journalist watchdog agencies often do not cite the additional deaths of media support technicians such as cameramen, translators and drivers.
The most recent abduction on Jan. 1, 2007 of Peruvian Agence France-Presse photographer Jaime Razuri by gunmen in Gaza was resolved favourably. The website for the International Middle East Media Center states he was released by his captors on Sunday evening after mediation efforts with his captors by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, French security delegates and the Peruvian Foreign Minister.
On Sunday afternoon, according to the site, Razuri joined a march in Rammallah with over 200 Palestinian journalists in protest of violence against the media. They marched carrying pictures of journalists Fadi Al Aruri, shot last Thursday, and Osama Salouadi, paralysed by gunfire two months ago.
But many abductions do not end as peacefully as Razuri’s.
Mohammed Taha, editor-in-chief of a Sudanese private daily newspaper, was found beheaded in the street in Karthoum last September after being kidnapped.
There is the brutal killing last February of Atwar Bahjat, a well known al-Arabiya network and former al-Jazeera network journalist. Her cameraman and technician were also killed. There is also the cold-blooded murder of award-winning Journalist Anna Politkovskaya last October in Russia in her apartment building. Many say she was murdered for her investigations into human rights violations in Chechnya.
The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) cites the next countries in line for journalist deaths this year – there are the unsolved deaths of eight journalists in Mexico and four in Russia. Many conflict zones such as Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Afghanistan provide no protection for journalists.
This year Canada proposed a draft decision to the UN human rights council to undertake a study of the security of journalists in war zones. Similar proposals urging the protection of journalists were offered by Greece and France to the UN Security Council, and were approved by the United Nations just before Christmas. The resolution urges all armies and insurgent groups to protect journalists in war zones. Most importantly, it urges governments to investigate, and bring perpetrators to justice.
The president of the PEC, Hedayat Abdel Nabi is pushing for more affirmative action, urging the United Nations to come up with some sort of legally binding mechanism to protect journalists in war zones. Some of her suggestions include the wearing of emblems by journalists so that they can be recognized in conflict zones, such as those worn by Red Cross workers, and harsher punishment for those who attack journalists.
