UNESCO Condemns Killing of Iraqi Cameraman Saleh Ibrahim and Calls for Improved Safety

UNESCO press release:

"UNESCO Director-General Ko�chiro Matsuura today condemned the killing of Iraqi cameraman Saleh Ibrahim in an attack in Mosul, which also left Iraqi photographer Mohammed Ibrahim seriously injured. Both worked for the Associated Press (AP) news agency. The Director-General went on to call for measures to improve the safety of journalists in Iraq.....

"UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to 'further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.' To realize this purpose the Organization is required to 'collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…'”