The United Nations, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, November 2, 2015 honoured journalists and media workers who were killed in the line of duty for reporting the truth.
Ban Ki-moon bestowed the honour on the deceased journalists in New York during his address to mark the International Day to end impunity for crimes against Journalists.
In his speech, the UN scribe reinstated that it is vital for journalists to be given the freedom to report freely without fear of attacks and assault.
He said: “More than 700 journalists have been killed in the last decade, one in every five days simply for bringing news and information to the public.
“Such impunity deepened fear among journalists and enabled governments to get away with censorship.
“We must do more to combat this trend and make sure that journalists can report freely.
“Journalists should not have to engage in self-censorship because they fear for their life.”
Ban stressed the need for collective action to end the cycle of impunity and safeguard the right of journalists to speak truth to power.
According to him, only seven per cent of cases involving crimes against journalists were resolved with less than one crime out of 10 being fully investigated.
