ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: In connection with the ‘International Day to End Impunity of Crimes against Journalists’, a program is being organized at National Press Club (NPC) in Islamabad on Friday.
The ‘International Day to End Impunity of Crimes against Journalists’ is universally observed every year on November 2 to highlight the need to combat impunity to make perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media accountable.
As per the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in the past 12 years (2006-2017) nearly 1010 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public.
This, on average, constitutes one death every four days; however, in nine out of 10 cases the killers go unpunished.
“Impunity leads to more killings and is often a symptom of worsening conflict and the breakdown of law and judicial systems,” says UNESCO.
So far in 2018, at least 45 journalists have been killed around the world as a result of their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
While on October 16, another Journalist Sohail Khan was also shot dead in the line of duty in Haripur, a City in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtukhwa Province.
Earlier in October, UNESCO announced to launch a new campaign ‘#TruthNeverDies’ on the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists’ to help raise awareness of rising impunity for crimes against journalists.
“We want to send the message that killing a journalist does not silence the truth, instead – and with your help – it remains in the public spotlight,” said a press release issued on October 26.
