This is the highest balance sheet since 1995. According to the NGO of Freedom of the Press, three countries are the main leaders: Burma, Belarus and China.
A record number of 488 media professionals are imprisoned in the world, deplores the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its annual balance sheet, which, however, recognizes a number of killed journalists (46) at the lowest.
“Never since the creation of the annual report of RSF in 1995, the number of imprisoned journalists had been so high,” says the NGO of Freedom of the Press, in a statement published Thursday.
This exceptional rise, of the order of 20% in one year, “is mainly the fact of three countries, namely Burma, Belarus and China, whose national security law imposed in 2020 in Hongkong provoked a skyrocketing increase in the detentions of journalists in this territory, RSF point.
“NEVER NEVER RSF had identified as many women-owned journalists”, a total of 60, one third more than 2020, deplores the association. If men still represent most of the journalists imprisoned in the world (87.7%), Belarus is the country that has put more women journalists (17) than masculine colleagues (15).
65 journalists selected hostage
The five countries where the largest number of journalists were detained at the beginning of December (127), Burma (53), Vietnam (43), Belarus (32) and Saudi Arabia (31).
The number of media journalists and professionals killed, with 46 deaths, reached its lowest level in twenty years, notes the organization. “This downward trend, which has been accentuated since 2016, is explained in particular by the evolution of regional conflicts (Syria, Iraq and Yemen) and the stabilization of the fronts after the years 2012 and 2016, particularly murderer”, analysis RSF. The majority of these dead are assassinations: “65% of the killed are knowingly targeted and eliminated”, denounces the association.
Mexico and Afghanistan are still this year the two most dangerous countries for journalists, with seven and six killed respectively, followed by Yemen and India in third place, with four journalists killed each.
RSF also recognizes at least 65 media journalists and employees selected hostage in the world, two more than last year. “All are hostages in three countries of the Middle East: Syria (44 journalists), Iraq (11) and Yemen (9)”, except the French journalist Olivier Dubois, withholding since April in Mali, RSF details.