According to a briefing by the United Nations agency, the majority of the murders of journalists across the world go unpunished.

“Impunity for killings of journalists remains unacceptably high at 86 per cent,” said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The cultural organization of the United Nations has also briefed on other media issues.

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The UN agency urged governments across the world to take all necessary measures to ensure that criminal incidents committed against journalists and media are properly investigated and the criminals behind the incident identified and convicted.

UNESCO called the global immunity rate for the journalists’ murders “shockingly high” in a report to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

The Director General of UN-backed initiative, in a statement, said that the world cannot protect the freedom of expression when the number of the unsolved cases related to the crimes against media is so much high.

The director general further said that impunity had a “chilling effect on investigative reporting”.

On the other hand, the agency also welcomed a 9 percent point drop in the rate of impunity over the past decade. She said that this was insufficient to stop what it called “the spiral of violence”.

As per the details, in 2020 and 2021, the period covered by UNESCO report, 91 journalists were killed while off the clock out the 117 media persons taken down while doing their job.

The report also added that several journalists were killed in front of their family members, and sometimes including their children.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay further said that the UN agency is working with the member states to form and implement the national media laws and policies to protect the rights and the lives of the journalists and other media officials.