Brazil and Mexico Among Countries with Greatest Impunity in Crimes Against Journalists Silvia Higuera - Journalism in the Americas
go to original November 12, 2016

For the second consecutive year, Mexico and Brazil are the only Latin American countries that are part of the Global Impunity Index by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which was published in late October.

This index, which ranks countries where journalist are murdered and “their killers go free,” is published by CPJ each year to commemorate the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which is recognized annually on Nov. 2.

To do this, CPJ calculates the number of unsolved murders of journalists over a period of 10 years as a percentage relative to the population of each country. Of the 13 countries that make up the index this year, Mexico ranks sixth and Brazil is ninth. Both countries climbed two places in the ranks, meaning that the situation in each country worsened.

“The violence that criminal groups and local officials perpetrated against journalists allowed impunity to worsen in Latin America, where Brazil and Mexico climbed two places in the index this year,” said Carlos Lauría, senior program coordinator for the Americas at CPJ, to the Knight Center. “But some of the highest rates of impunity [worldwide] for the murder of journalists can be attributed to the killings perpetrated by radical Islamist groups.”

As Lauría explained, although CPJ concluded this year that the highest levels of impunity are reflected in the murders committed by radical Islamist groups, it also found that “local officials and criminal groups also frequently murder journalists in retaliation for their work without facing justice,” in cases like that of Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and Russia.

“Impunity in the murders of journalists emboldens would-be killers and forces the media to operate in a climate of fear, which in turn restricts information available to the public,” said Elisabeth Witchel, author of the report and CPJ’s consultant for the Global Campaign Against Impunity, according to an organization press release. “States need to urgently address this situation with robust mechanisms to protect, investigate, and prosecute when journalists are threatened or attacked.”

Read the rest at Journalism in the Americas | Español

Related: CPJ’s 2016 Global Impunity Index Spotlights Countries Where Journalists Are Slain and the Killers Go Free (CPJ.org)

Related: Over 65 Journalists Already Killed in 2016 (Sputnik)

Related: Press Association Condemns Use of Legal Proceedings Against Media in Venezuela (Caribbean News Now)

Related: EU Calls for End of Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (Kuna)

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