End Impunity for Violence in Journalism: Launch of 2015 Global Campaign

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has today launched its annual global campaign to hold world governments and de facto governments accountable for impunity records for crimes targeting journalists. The campaign will run from 2 November, the UN Day against impunity for crime targeting journalists, to 23 November 2015.

The UN Day to end impunity for crimes against journalists was adopted on 18 December 2013 to be mark 2 November, the anniversary of the killings of two RFI reporters, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, murdered in Kidal, Mali in 2013. It comes ahead of 23 November which commemorates the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines when at least 32 journalists lost their lives in the single deadliest attack on media.

In a letter addressed to its affiliates on 20 October, the IFJ has called for massive support to denounce any crime targeting journalists that remain unpunished the world over. Murder is the highest form of these crimes but “all attacks targeting journalists that remain unpunished must be denounced,” says the organisation.

The 2015 campaign will put a specific emphasis on four countries: Mexico, the Philippines, Ukraine and Yemen.

Read more