MANILA, Philippines - For the fourth straight year, the Philippines ranked the third worst country in the world in terms of the impunity with which journalists are killed in the annual index published by press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists.
The only countries worse off were Iraq and Somalia, ranked No. 1 and 2 and both of which basically remain in states of war.
The impunity index lists 12 countries “where at least five journalists have been murdered and governments have failed to win any convictions.”
“Despite President Benigno Aquino III's vow to reverse impunity in journalist murders, the Philippines ranked third worst worldwide for the fourth consecutive year,” CPJ said in the report, “Getting Away With Murder,” accompanying its 2013 impunity index.
It counted 55 media killings that have remained unsolved in the past decade.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has recorded close to 160 media murders since 1986, the year the dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted and democratic institutions restored.
The other countries on the CPJ index are:
- Sri Lanka
- Colombia
- Afghanistan
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Brazil
- Nigeria
- India
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance noted that, “As a whole, the region has moved backward on media freedom in 2012 with more restrictive laws being enacted by governments, while in many countries journalists and civil society continues to be threatened by violence.”
SEAPA said that, despite “some bright spots” in the Philippine media landscape last year, among these the declaration of the United Nations Human Rights Committee that libel is “incompatible” with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “these were practically eclipsed by the continuing killing of journalists, the persistence of impunity, and the passage of restrictive laws,” in particular, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which is under a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court after its constitutionality was questioned by freedom of expression advocates.
The regional press watchdog also noted the continued failure to enact a freedom of information law, which was one of the main promises President Benigno Aquino III during his campaign for the 2010 elections, and a spike in threats and attacks on journalists.
No comments:
Post a Comment