Inter-Agency meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity

A United Nations Inter-Agency meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 13 and 14 September 2011. 

The event brought together representatives of UN system organizations and provided them with a forum in which to consult with other invited international and regional institutions, professional organizations and NGOs, with a view to formulating a comprehensive, coherent and action-oriented plan of action to address the issue of safety of journalists and the impunity of perpetrators of assaults against journalists.

Over the last ten years, more than 500 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide, and many more were wounded or injured while carrying out their professional responsibilities. The great majority of casualties were not international war correspondents, but local journalists working in their own countries, mostly in peacetime, and covering local stories. In most of these cases, impunity precludes the way of justice, and if this trend prevails, journalists will remain easy targets.

Read more about the meeting and watch videos of its sessions!