Urge UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Appoint a Protector of Journalists Delphine Halgand - Reporters Without Borders
go to original September 8, 2016

A London-based journalism advocacy group presented a report saying that 23 journalists have disappeared in Mexico since 2003, making it 2 every year, the highest number in the world. Most of the disappeared were covering corruption and organized crime. (teleSUR)

Reporters Without Borders has been leading the charge for the UN to appoint a Protector of Journalists - a position that would have the political weight, the capacity to act quickly, and the legitimacy to save journalists lives.

When you kill journalists, you kill more than the information they fought to report. You kill the power of the people to know the truth, to speak up, to fight for a better world.

Right now RSF is leading a worldwide coalition of people organizing for the UN appointment of a Protector of Journalists - a position that would have the political weight, the capacity to act quickly, and the legitimacy to save journalists lives. At this week’s General Assembly, help us show the United Nations that the time to act is now.

Add your name to the letter we’ve written to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging for the appointment of a Protector of Journalists. The more signatures we can deliver next Friday, the louder our campaign will be heard. Please, add your signature today.

Letter to sign:

To Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,

787 journalists and media personnel were killed while exercising their profession over the last 10 years. In the year 2015 alone, the numbers reflect 67 journalists killed worldwide.

Through them, the right to information of hundreds of millions of citizens has been sacrificed. The major problems around the world, from environmental issues to extremist violence, cannot be resolved without the work of journalists.

I am urging the United Nations Secretary General and its Member States to appoint a Special Representative to the UN Secretary General for the safety of journalists.

We need a concrete mechanism to ensure the compliance of member states with their obligations for journalist safety.

In this regard, only a Special Representative to the UN Secretary General for the Safety of Journalists working closely with the UN Secretary General will significantly empower the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity and all efforts lead by UNESCO.

It is time for concrete action.

It is time for journalists to work in a safe environment and to put an end to impunity.

Sign the petition at Reporters Without Borders

Related: Critics Are Not Criminals: Protecting Journalists from Criminal Defamation Laws (Thomson Reuters Foundation )

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