National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
There is no evidence of accountability for Nigerian police and other officials who have abused journalists as media men work at “great personal risk to report on issues that impact the lives of individuals in the societies.”
The U.S. Department of States Spokesperson, Heather Nauert, who made this assertion on Thursday, added that journalists are often under threat from those who wish to silence them and crimes against journalists often go unpunished in many parts of the world.
He spoke through a statement, to mark the 2017 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, noting that journalists face attacks despite efforts to “shine a light on abuses and corruption, expose threats posed by transnational criminal organizations, and counter disinformation and propaganda that spread false narratives.”
Nauert said journalists’ efforts play an indispensable role in the healthy functioning of U.S. democracy and also underpin democratic values around the world and called on the international community to continue working to eliminate impunity for crimes against media professionals.
He decried the fact that the attacks on journalists continue with impunity in many countries, citing reported cases of harassment intimidation and killings of journalists, with Somalia holding the world’s worst record for unresolved murders of journalists for the third year in a row.
“In Syria, both local and foreign journalists have regularly been attacked and killed while reporting on the conflict. In Venezuela, the government arbitrarily closes media outlets as punishment for reporting facts, or maintaining an editorial line, critical of the regime.
“In Iraq, media workers report accounts of intimidation, death threats, and harassment. In Sudan, the government arrests, harasses, and intimidates journalists with impunity. In Uganda, government officials intensified their crackdown against freedom of expression, including by intimidating journalists.
“In Russia, the lack of progress towards any accountability for the killing of high profile journalists persists,” Nauert said.
