LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)-A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), report shows that for the second year running, high-risk areas still remain an unsafe zone for journalists and media workers.
The report claims that 68 persons died while on assignment in 2024.
In its latest data sourced from various leading international press freedom organisations, over 60 percent (the highest in 10years) on-assignment deaths happened in warring countries.
On the verified data, it shows that in 2024, these war torn countries claimed the lives of 42 journalists with 18 dying in Palestine, which recorded the highest casualty on the list.
Not ending there, countries known for insecurity and violence like Ukraine, Sudan, Lebanon, Colombia, Myanmar,and Iraq also witnessed multiple fatalities.
On Thursday, UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, gave a statement saying, “Reliable information is vital in conflict situations to help affected populations and to enlighten the world.”
Azoulay, maintained that it was unacceptable that the price journalists paid for doing their job was their life. She therefore called on “all States to step up and ensure the protection of media workers, in accordance with international law.”
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To show the changing essence of the risks confronting the media, UNESCO reported a 42 percent increase in attacks against Environmental Journalists between 2019 and 2024.
However, over the last two years, a sharp increase was seen as more journalists died more than ever since the year 2016 to 2017.
Warring zones is still a worrisome problem but an obvious decline was noticed in the Caribbean and Latin America where the global figures of murdered journalists dropped from 43 in year 2022 to the least, 12 in 2024. Also, non-conflict areas only recorded 26 deaths; the lowest figure in 16 years.
Albeit small, this development shows progress in confronting threats against journalists in peacetime particularly, in areas formerly bedeviled by violence against media workers.
In relation to the ‘on-assignment death’, there are exclusions if the nature of the death is unrelated to the victims’ journalistic work. Even so, UNESCO maintains close watch on developments as dozens of cases remain under review.
In addition, journalists now face financial and legal pressures coupled with physical threats.
Beyond tracking fatalities, it is part of the organization’s objective to protect journalists through initiatives such as the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
The agency calls on the international community to strengthen protections for media workers and ensure that the quest for truth does not come at the ultimate cost. It still pushes to promote press freedom and safeguard journalists.
