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Journalist bodies call on UNSC to protect media workers in Afghanistan
(Last Updated On: December 12, 2020)
Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), International Media Support (IMS) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Saturday jointly called on the UN Security Council to take serious actions to reduce violence against journalists in Afghanistan and said they endorse the letter to the UNSC dated November 18 from the Afghan journalists community.
The letter addressed the concerns of journalists and media regarding the growing violence and threats against journalists, and urged the UNSC to take steps to cut down on threats journalists in Afghanistan face.
On Saturday, RSF, the AJSC and IMS said in a joint statement that they also stress that peace talks are unreasonable and untenable unless parties to the war respect fundamental international covenants and human rights, and above all the Geneva Conventions that treat media and journalists as protected civilian entities and individuals that are meant to be immune from military attack.
“Afghan media and journalists do not deserve to become helpless due to the silence of the international institutions and its highest body, the United Nations,” read their statement.
This comes after two journalists and a former TV news anchor were all killed within a month in Afghanistan – the latest being Malalai Maiwand, a female journalist, who was killed in Jalalabad in Nangarhar on Thursday.
RSF stated on it’s website that “press freedom and the expansion of the media landscape is one of the most significant achievements of Afghanistan in the last two decades. Unfortunately, given the country’s political and security challenges, this achievement is extremely vulnerable.
“There are serious concerns that with the escalation of insecurity and conflict, this achievement would perish. Despite Afghan journalists’ courage and dedication to continue their profession, the rise of threats and violence against them is shrinking the environment,” the statement read.
Since 2001, at least 100 journalists – 16 of them foreign journalists – have been killed while more than 60 media outlets have been destroyed or attacked, RSF said adding that journalists and media have also been the target of hundreds of threats. “The Taliban and Islamic State are responsible for most of the murders of journalists and attacks on media outlets,” the statement read.
Under Afghan law, ensuring the security of journalists and media outlets is a fundamental responsibility of the government.
“Although efforts have been made by the Afghan government, these have not been sufficient in preventing crimes, and prosecuting the perpetrators of violence against journalists,” the statement read.
“The lack of serious and meaningful efforts by governmental institutions to pursue cases of violence against journalists, the complexity of the ongoing war, the government’s fledgling and weak structure and the infliction of a large amount of violence and threats by the opposition armed groups are among the factors that give rise to the need for support of international institutions in fighting the crimes against journalists among many other areas.”
The organizations stated that because of this they – the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, International Media Support and Reporters Without Borders – call on UN Security Council to support the media community in decreasing violence against journalists in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1738 (December 23, 2006) and UN General Assembly Resolution (November 26, 2013) which are the mainstay of defending the journalists’ rights in conflicts and warzones.
The three institutions also stated they believe that violence benefits from the culture of impunity.