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Free Speech Groups
Demand EU Action Over Media Killings
Brussels, Wednesday, February 22, 2006: Press Freedom groups from
around the world today called on the European Union to join the fight to
expose and combat “the scandal of impunity in the killing of journalists
and media staff.”
Participants at a global free expression conference organised by the
International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) in Brussels held a
demonstration outside the Council of the European Union calling for an end
to impunity and “justice for journalists.”
In letters to the President of the European Commission, Jose Manual
Barroso, and to the President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell,
the groups says that over the last 10 years more than 1,000 journalists
and media staff have been killed yet in only a handful of cases have
suspects been brought to trial.
“It is a shameful and intolerable denial of justice to the victims, and to
their families, friends and colleagues,” they say.
The protesters are urging the European Union to join a campaign to expose
the lack of political will to back proper investigation of media killings.
Citing a number of problem regions, the groups say that countries the
problem is serious in countries like the Philippines, Haiti, Bangladesh,
Mexico, and Colombia.
“There is no region of the world that is not touched by this crisis. Even
in countries where democratic countries have responsibility – in Iraq, for
instance, where there have been a number of media killings at the hands of
United States soldiers which have not been properly investigated – we see
impunity at work,” they write.
Noting that the problem also affects countries bordering on the European
Union, and many others with whom the European Union has treaty
arrangements, the groups says European Union leaders must use their
influence to more directly defend the core European values of justice and
freedom.
“At a time when the numbers of media dead are steadily rising, when
journalists are held hostage or languish in jails for exercising their
profession, we urge you to speak out over this crisis and make clear that
the European Union, in its dealings with other national governments, will
insist that free expression and an end to impunity are part of the
non-negotiable framework for international trade and political relations,”
they say.
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