Reporters Without Borders: Around 1,700 journalists have been killed worldwide in 20 years

Journalists continue to give their lives for their work. The latest figures revealed are alarming: around 1,700 journalists have lost their lives worldwide in 20 years.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international non-governmental organization, released this alarming statistic. Iraq and Syria are the most dangerous and deadly countries for journalists, according to RSF. “Between 2003 and 2022, 1,668 journalists were killed worldwide, an average of 80 murders per year,” the Paris-based Freedom of the Press organization said in a statement.

According to the latest figures, “2012 and 2013 recorded a murderous peak of 144 and 142 journalist assassinations respectively”. Almost 80% of the deaths recorded between 2003 and 2022 occurred in 15 countries, the most dangerous of which were Iraq and Syria, where a total of 578 journalists were killed, according to the same source. Next to them are Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine and Somalia, according to the same source.

Globally, while reporting on armed conflict accounts for many deaths, more journalists have been killed in “peace zones” in the past 20 years than in “war zones” due to their organized crime and corruption investigations. So, with nearly half of journalists killed in 2022, the American continent (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, etc.) is “today, without a doubt, the most dangerous for the media”.

Sami Nemili with agencies / Les Inspirations Ego