(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 29 April 2005 PEN Canada media release: PEN Canada to Mark World Press Freedom Day with Spotlight on Mexico and the Philippines Toronto, April 29, 2005 – The murder of journalists in two countries remains a stark reminder of the dangers of working for the media, PEN Canada […]
(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 29 April 2005 PEN Canada media release:
PEN Canada to Mark World Press Freedom Day with Spotlight on Mexico and the Philippines
Toronto, April 29, 2005 – The murder of journalists in two countries remains a stark reminder of the dangers of working for the media, PEN Canada says to mark World Press Freedom Day.
During the past decade, Mexico and the Philippines are two countries where reporters regularly face risks to their lives. Since 1987, 48 journalists in Mexico have been killed, compared to at least 66 in the Philippines since 1986, when democracy was restored in the country*. In the vast majority of these cases, the perpetrators have been neither identified nor punished.
“These shocking statistics underscore the need to highlight the safety of journalists everywhere,” said PEN Canada Writers in Prison Committee Chair Alan Cumyn. “PEN Canada uses the opportunity of May 3, World Press Freedom Day, to call on the governments of Mexico and the Philippines to conduct thorough investigations into the murders and to bring an immediate end to the impunity that surrounds them.”
To that end, PEN Canada has joined the Ni Uno Más campaign started by Mexican free expression organizations. The initiative pressures state and national authorities in Mexico to carry out serious investigations into the murder of journalists and to ensure that media workers can practise their profession free from danger.
In the Philippines, both PEN Canada and other centres of International PEN have reported on the wave of attacks on journalists and have protested to authorities there so that those responsible are brought to justice. The latest attack was on April 10, when radio broadcaster Alberto Martinez was shot in the back in Mindanao.
About World Press Freedom Day
May 3, UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day, marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of principles drawn up by African journalists in 1991 calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media on that continent and throughout the world. The Declaration affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal.
About PEN Canada
PEN Canada is a centre of International PEN that campaigns on behalf of writers around the world persecuted for the expression of their thoughts. In Canada, it supports the right to free expression as enshrined in Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
* Statistics from the Inter American Press Association (http://www.sipiapa.org) and the International Federation of Journalists (http://www.ifj.org), respectively.
