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Nov. 23 carnage pulls RP up in CPJ impunity index


Unpunished violence against the press — particularly the infamous November 23 Maguindanao massacre — worsened in the Philippines as the country climbed three notches up an international media group’s global index on impunity. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the Philippines ranked third in its 2010 Global Impunity Index, up from sixth place in 2009. The CPJ index is a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. "Deadly, unpunished violence against the press has soared in the Philippines and Somalia... Impunity in journalist murders also rose significantly in Russia and Mexico, two countries with long records of entrenched, anti-press violence," the CPJ said on its Website. "[In the Philippines,] the November 2009 massacre of 30 journalists and two media support workers in Maguindanao province more than doubled the country’s impunity rating from the previous year. Authorities have indicted nearly 200 people in the massacre, including local political leaders said to have masterminded the attack," it added. But the group also hinted that with Justice Secretary Alberto Agra’s decision to clear two Ampatuan clan members in the case, the Philippines may find itself moving further up. "Given the Philippines’ abysmal record of impunity in the killings of journalists, President Arroyo’s government has given little reassurance that history will be reversed with this surprise move," CPJ Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz said in an article posted on the CPJ Website. "The government must not ride roughshod over the decisions of a court with a simple pronouncement," he added. The CPJ voiced dismay over Agra’s decision to drop the murder charges against detained Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and his cousin Akmad Ampatuan Sr., former mayor of Mamasapano town. Iraq still on top Iraq still topped the index, with 88 journalist murders over the last 10 years still unsolved. Iraq’s impunity index rating was 2.794 unsolved journalist murders out of one million inhabitants. Iraq ranked first last year with a rating of 2.983. Somalia was second, as journalists continued to be targeted, mainly by hard-line Al-Shabaab insurgents, as well as by government troops. Its impunity index rating was 1 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants. It ranked third last year with a rating of 0.69. The CPJ said it recorded 55 unsolved murders in the Philippines in the past decade. "Aside from the Maguindanao ambush, the country’s abysmal impunity record showed some signs of a turnaround with convictions in the 2006 killing of Armando Pace and the 2005 murder of Edgar Amoro," the CPJ said. "But there is reason to believe that authorities still do not grasp the seriousness of their problem: A Supreme Court spokesman recently dismissed death threats against a reporter as ‘ridiculous,’" it added, referring to death threats against veteran journalist Marites Vitug. The Philippines’ impunity index rating was 0.609 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants. Last year, it ranked sixth with a rating of 0.273. Other countries on the 12-country list included Sri Lanka, with an impunity index rating of 0.496 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants, followed by Colombia, which scored 0.292. Also making it to the list were Afghanistan, Nepal, Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

SOURCE: The Committee to Protect Journalists Website
The CPJ said the Philippines and Russia were two of the world’s "worst offenders." On the other hand, it cited notable convictions that took place in the past year. Brazil, Colombia improve The CPJ said Brazil and Colombia, historically two of the world’s deadliest nations for the press, each achieved a marked improvement in curbing deadly violence against journalists and bringing killers to justice. "We’ve heard repeated pledges from governments that the killers of journalists will face justice, but until these promises are fulfilled, media will continue to be targeted by those who believe they are above the law and immune from consequences," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. This was the third year of the CPJ impunity index, which calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of a country’s population. In compiling the index, the CPJ examined journalist murders in every nation in the world in 2000 to 2009. Cases were considered unsolved when no convictions have been obtained. Only nations with five or more unsolved cases were included in the index, a threshold reached by 12 countries this year. The CPJ developed the impunity index in 2008 to monitor trends over time in countries where journalists are regularly murdered and law enforcement falters. It is compiled as part of the group’s Global Campaign Against Impunity, which seeks justice in the murders of journalists. Two countries immersed in conflict top the list. Iraq was at no. 1 with 88 unsolved journalist murders, while Somalia was second, reflecting insurgents’ routine use of violence to control the news media. But many of the remaining countries in the index — India, Russia, the Philippines, and Mexico — present themselves as democracies with functioning law enforcement. "Our goal in compiling this index is to spur leaders in these nations to action," Simon said. "Many of these cases are solvable — the perpetrators have been identified but authorities lack the political will to prosecute," he added. The CPJ is releasing the 2010 Impunity Index to coincide with an international summit on impunity being held in New York. The summit will convene press defenders and journalists from around the world to coordinate and improve strategies to reverse deadly violence against the press. Other findings The CPJ also came out with the following findings: • Impunity in media killings is acute in South Asia. Six nations in the region — Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India — were on the 2010 list; • Worldwide, more than 90 percent of victims were local reporters covering sensitive topics such as crime, corruption and national security in their home countries; • In Brazil, prosecutors recently won convictions against four men, including three members of the military police, in the 2007 murder of Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho. Brazilian authorities have successfully prosecuted several other journalist murders in recent years. With only four unsolved murders still on the books, Brazil no longer meets the threshold for inclusion in the index; • Threats against journalists were a key indicator, CPJ research showed. In at least four out of every 10 journalist murders, the victims reported receiving threats before they were killed. • Killers of journalists aimed to send a chilling message to the entire news media. Almost a third of murdered journalists were either taken captive or tortured before their death. — LBG/RSJ/NPA, GMANews.TV
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