Phl ranks third in global impunity report

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines  – The Philippines ranked third in the annual impunity index report released by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) yesterday.

The country is behind war-torn Iraq and Somalia, which remained in the top two spots.

The Philippines also ranked third in last year’s index and is followed by Sri Lanka in fourth place.

Based on CPJ’s report entitled “Getting Away with Murder,” 13 countries were included in the annual ranking of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments are unable or unwilling to solve the crimes.

The 2011 edition includes journalist murders that occurred between Jan. 1, 2001, through Dec. 31, 2010, and that remain unsolved.

Only countries with five or more unsolved cases are included in the index.

Apart from the Philippines, the other countries are Iraq, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Mexico, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil and India.

Of the 13 countries on CPJ’s 2011 Impunity Index, seven are in Asia, accounting for 41 percent of the 251 murders of journalists that have gone unpunished over the past decade.

The Philippines ranks third, due largely to the massacre of 32 journalists in the infamous Maguindanao massacre of 57 people in November 2009.

Sri Lanka ranks fourth, an indication that justice is evading journalists under an administration that is struggling to defend its human rights record.

“With genuine political will, Asian countries, particularly those democratic South Asian nations which pride themselves on an established rule of law, have it within their grasp to undo this record of injustice and abuse heaped upon their journalists,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

“The trend toward inaction has been in place for years and it is now time for the region’s nations to take responsibility for the problem,” he said.

The CPJ noted that uninvestigated and unprosecuted journalists’ deaths have broad implications.

“The targeted killing of journalists serves as a silencing message to others, ensuring that sensitive issues are not subjected to public scrutiny,” said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

“Many journalists who were murdered had been threatened beforehand but were left unprotected. Governments can either address anti-press violence or see murders continue and self-censorship spread.”

CPJ’s Impunity Index also showed improvement in Russia, where deadly anti-press violence has waned and authorities have obtained two high-profile convictions.

In Mexico where journalists face huge risks, the country’s impunity rating worsened for the third consecutive year, with 13 cases unsolved.

But that is not the case with countries at the top of the index which registered either no improvements or deteriorating conditions.

Iraq, with an impunity rating three times worse than that of any other nation, is ranked first for the fourth straight year.

Although crossfire and other conflict-related deaths have dropped in Iraq in recent years, the targeted killings of journalists spiked in 2010.

CPJ study showed that more than 40 percent of the victims included in the index were threatened prior to being murdered, while nearly 30 percent had covered politics.

Local journalists were the victims in the vast majority of unsolved cases worldwide. Only about six percent of cases on the index involve international journalists slain abroad.

“Law enforcement must respond aggressively when journalists are threatened, and it must solve the crimes once reporters are attacked,” Simon said.

“Otherwise, authorities perpetuate a vicious cycle in which impunity breeds violence and ensures silence.”

CPJ delegations have met recently with heads of state in the Philippines, Mexico, and Pakistan, and with senior law enforcement officials in Russia, to seek systemic reforms and convictions in unsolved cases.

In each instance, top officials pledged to reverse the record of impunity in their countries, but the task is considerable.

CPJ research shows that repeated entrenched corruption and dysfunction in law enforcement has thwarted justice in journalist murders. Suspects have been publicly identified in dozens of unsolved cases examined by CPJ for the 2011 index, but authorities have been unable or unwilling to gain convictions.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.