No one has been held to account in 81% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2021 Global Impunity Index has found. States with the worst records include Somalia, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Mexico and the Philippines.
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 28 October 2021.
No one has been held to account in 81% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2021 Global Impunity Index has found.
By Jennifer Dunham/CPJ Deputy Editorial Director
Somalia remains the world’s worst country for unsolved killings of journalists, according to CPJ’s annual Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where members of the press are singled out for murder and the perpetrators go free.
The index showed little change from a year earlier, with Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan, in that order, again coming in behind Somalia to occupy the worst four spots on the list, as conflict, political instability, and weak judicial mechanisms perpetuate a cycle of violence against journalists.
More in this report
- Global Impunity Index table
- Interactive map
- Database: All journalists murdered for their work
- Methodology
However, the latest data – which covers the period September 1, 2011, to August 31, 2021 – does not fully reflect the increased danger facing journalists in Afghanistan. [Please refer to CPJ’s statement for more information]
During the 10-year index period – a tumultuous time that includes Syria’s civil war, widespread protests against Arab governments, and attacks against media workers by extremist groups and organized crime syndicates – 278 journalists were murdered for their work worldwide. In 226 of those cases, or 81%, CPJ recorded complete impunity, meaning no one has been convicted in connection with the crime. For the previous index period (September 1, 2010, to August 31, 2020), CPJ found that 83% of journalist murders were unsolved, continuing a recent trend of incremental progress in solving cases. In “The Road to Justice,” a 2014 examination of the causes of impunity in journalist murders and possible solutions, CPJ found that the killers went free in nine out of 10 cases between 2004 and 2013.
Illustrating the endemic nature of this lack of accountability, all 12 of the countries on the index have featured multiple times since CPJ first ranked the data in 2008, and seven have appeared every year.
Mexico holds the sixth spot on the index for the second straight year. Despite key convictions in the murders of journalists Javier Valdez Cárdenas and Miroslava Breach Velducea in 2020 and 2021, the media continue to be targeted at an alarming rate. As of August 31, CPJ research found that at least three journalists were murdered in Mexico for their work with complete impunity in 2021; four suffered that fate in 2020, second only to the number murdered in Afghanistan.
Globally in 2020, at least 22 journalists were singled out for murder in retaliation for their work, more than double the total for 2019. For 2021, the number of murders is tracking closely to last year’s, but political volatility in Afghanistan and other high-risk nations makes the final 2021 total difficult to predict.
Global Impunity Index
| Index rank | Country | Population* | Unsolved murders |
| 1 | Somalia | 15.9 | 25 |
| 2 | Syria | 17.5 | 21 |
| 3 | Iraq | 40.2 | 18 |
| 4 | South Sudan | 11.2 | 5 |
| 5 | Afghanistan | 38.9 | 17 |
| 6 | Mexico | 128.9 | 27 |
| 7 | Philippines | 109.6 | 13 |
| 8 | Brazil | 212.6 | 14 |
| 9 | Pakistan | 220.9 | 12 |
| 10 | Russia | 144.1 | 6 |
| 11 | Bangladesh | 164.7 | 6 |
| 12 | India | 1,380.0 | 20 |
Bangladesh improved one spot in the index this year, to 11th, due to convictions in February in the 2015 murders of secular blogger Avijit Roy and his publisher, Faisal Arefin Dipan. Several members of the banned militant group Ansar al-Islam were sentenced to death for their roles in the killings. (CPJ does not support the death penalty and has urged Bangladesh to hand down “humane” sentences on appeal.)
The year 2021 also saw sentencings or positive developments in two other high-profile murder cases, involving countries not ranked on the index. In Malta, businessman Yorgen Fenech was indicted in August for his alleged role in the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a move that Corrine Vella, the journalist’s sister, called “a turning point in the pursuit of justice.” In February, one of the alleged killers pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for Caruana Galizia’s murder.
And in Slovakia in June, the Supreme Court canceled the acquittals of two defendants in the 2018 murder of investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, reversing a setback in the pursuit of justice for another journalist who – like Caruana Galizia – was killed for his reporting on corruption in the European Union.
