PHL situation worsens as it remains in top 5 of countries enabling impunity in journalist deaths — report

WASHINGTON — More than 200 killings of journalists are unsolved in 13 countries cited by a media watchdog group for enabling "impunity" for the crimes.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said the countries on its list were home to the majority of journalist killings over the past 10 years.

The countries "represent a mix of conflict-ridden regions and more stable countries where criminal groups, politicians, government officials, and other powerful actors resort to violence to silence critical and investigative reporting."

The 13 countries making up the list of the world’s worst impunity offenders accounted for 222 of the 318 deaths in the last 10 years, CPJ said, with many of the cases linked to war and civil unrest.

In these countries, the report added, "criminal groups, politicians, government officials, and other powerful actors resort to violence to silence critical and investigative reporting.

"Unchecked corruption, ineffective institutions, and lack of political will to pursue robust investigations are all factors behind impunity, CPJ has found."

Somalia was the worst country for the fifth year in a row in a ranking based on deaths as a percentage of each country's population: 25 unsolved killings in a country of 15 million people. Syria was second and Iraq third on the list.

The Philippines

The Philippines, in fifth spot, has the largest number of unsolved killings with 41, followed by Mexico with 30, the New York-based group said.

According to the report, the Philippines "has been among the worst five countries nearly every year since the index was first published in 2008," due in large part to the 2009 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao in which 32 journalists and media workers were killed with 26 others.

It also noted that 81 journalists have been killed in the Philippines from 1992 to 2019 so far, and lists the situation in the country as having "worsened."

"In the past decade, armed militant groups such as Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Islamic State group have most often targeted journalists with complete impunity," the CPJ report said.

"However, criminal groups have become a major threat, killing large numbers of journalists and routinely escaping justice. Mexico, to date this year's deadliest country for journalists, has seen its impunity rating worsen nearly every year since 2008, as criminal cartels waged a campaign of terror against the media."

Other countries making up the 13 worst were South Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, Nigeria and India. — Agence France-Presse