ONE YEAR OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL : 123 journalists killed - the PEC calls upon the Council to act

GENEVA, PEC NEWS (JUNE 19) Marking the first anniversary of the creation of the Human Rights Council (HRC) June 18-2006 to June 18-2007, the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) notes that at least 123 journalists have been killed in 27 countries during that period. The PEC, supported by more than 50.000 journalists around the world, calls upon the new and the ongoing members of the Council to take action and start a serious discussion on this global neglected crisis related to freedom of expression and the right to life.

One year after, the PEC congratulates the President of the Human Rights Council Mexican Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba for his text on institution building. “It is a step forward. Finally the Council must get down to work and engage seriously on human rights abuses around the world”, said PEC president Hedayat Abdel Nabi and PEC Secretary-General Blaise Lempen.

The PEC believes that the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) which will cover all countries without exception opens a huge opportunity to include the situation of freedom of opinion and expression as well as the situation of journalists and their working conditions in each country for review by all countries.

One year after the HRC’s creation, the PEC believes that with the new mechanisms put in place there would be a global opportunity for re-enforcing the protection of victims of human rights worldwide. Those mechanisms will add credibility to the new United Nations body.

“One major advantage of the Council is that it will convene several times which would give it a broader scope and will add to its legitimacy as compared to the previous human rights commission”, adds Blaise Lempen.

The UN General Assembly has mandated the Human Rights Council with the task to elaborate new international norms when necessary, reminds the PEC.

At the end of last year the Security Council adopted resolution 1738 to give serious attention to the plight of journalists in conflict zones. One way to strengthen this important resolution is to it use it as a basis for a discussion to protect media in zones of conflict on the level of the Council.

The PEC calls upon the members of the Council not to loose time and to deal with firmness against the serious violations to the right to life and the right to information in many countries.

Growing crisis

The Geneva based NGO expresses its alarm at the growing number of journalists killed since the beginning of the year reaching a record number of 62 journalists in 21 countries against 35 during the same period last year.

30 of the 62 journalists killed since the beginning of the year were killed in Iraq.

The break down of the 123 journalists killed since the creation of the HRC one year ago ranks Iraq at the top with 60 killed, followed by Mexico: 8, the Philippines: 7, Afghanistan: 6, Somalia 5, Russia 4, Sri Lanka 3, Haiti 3 and Colombia 3.

In Pakistan, Guatemala, India, Brazil, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) two journalists were killed in each country.

While in Gaza, Zimbabwe, Peru, Ghana, Lebanon, China, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Turkey and Nigeria , a journalist was killed per country.

Those figures, collected by the PEC from various sources, do not include media assistants including translators, drivers, security staff et al which if included would make the figure higher.

In Gaza BBC correspondent Alan Johnston remains in captivity breaking a three month period on June 12. The PEC calls upon the Council to take effective measures with regards to the serious issue of journalists’ abduction for ransom or for other political reasons.

The PEC calls upon the Council to take the necessary measures in its forthcoming session in September to deal with this global problem. The Geneva based NGO reiterates its urgent call to the Council to start discussions in an open ended working group on a new convention to fill in the current existing gaps in international humanitarian law which would be directed to the protection of media in zones of conflict.

For the list of media casualties, please go to: www.pressemblem.ch