India 14th in Global Impunity for Killing Journalists: CPJ Report

With Somalia topping the list, the index looks at countries in which journalists get killed and the killers go free.

Candles burn in front of placards during a protest condemning the killing of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh in Ahmedabad.

(Photo Courtesy: AP/Ajit Solanki)

At a time when the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has sparked global outrage, inviting condemnation from world leaders and policymakers alike, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American organisation, has released its 2018 Global Impunity Index.

With 18 unresolved cases, India is at the 14th position on the index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

While Somalia has topped the list for the fourth year in a row, two countries – Afghanistan and Colombia – have rejoined the list of offenders. Both nations had fallen off the index in recent years as violent conflict receded.

According to the CPJ report, the list includes countries where journalists covering corruption, crime, politics, business and human rights have been targeted and the suspects have the means and influence to circumvent justice through political influence, wealth or intimidation.

“In the past decade, at least 324 journalists have been silenced through murder worldwide and in 85 percent of these cases no perpetrators have been convicted,” the report said, adding that it’s an emboldening message to those who seek to censor and control the media through violence.

The Impunity Index, which is published annually, calculates the number of unsolved murders over a 10-year period as a percentage of each country’s population.

For this edition, CPJ analysed journalist murders in every nation that took place between 1 September 2008 and 31 August 2018.

The majority of victims were local journalists, the report said.