The
coming fifth year anniversary of the infamous Maguindanao massacre will be a central
point of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), an international
media watchdog, in their quest to search for an end to impunity against the media.
The
IFJ said all the events this November will form part of a global campaign to
end impunity for crime against journalists by holding responsible and charge
those guilty.
It
started last Nov. 2, the United Nations Day against impunity for violence against
journalists, to continue in its campaign until Nov. 23 and will involve all IFJ
affiliates, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) included.
The
IFJ said Nov. 2 marks the first anniversary of the killings of two RFI
reporters, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, who were murdered in Kidal, Mali
in 2013.
This
will be another occasion "to press governments around the world on their
obligation to investigate attacks on journalists and punish their perpetrators,"
the IFJ added.
In
the Philippines, November 23 will also be another date to reckon, which is the date
marking the well-known Maguindanao massacre.
The
IFJ points to November 2009 as a year when many journalists were killed, at least
32, described as “the single deadliest attack on media.”
The
Maguindanao massacre, in its fifth year, will be the major highlight for the
IFJ's campaign this month drawing attention also to other most dangerous
countries for journalists like Mexico, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
The
IFJ calls on other concerned media entities to organize a Thunderclap campaign,
an online platform to rally people and spread the message as support, and achieve
a social reach of at least 50,000 people joining this campaign by Nov. 23.
For
NUJP, “November 2 and 23 -- strike a deep chord within the community of
independent journalists in the Philippines, who have lost 171 of their number
since 1986 as government apathy and even hostility continue to feed the
impunity with which assaults on the press are committed,”
“It
has not helped that President Benigno Aquino III has not only broken all his
promises of justice and good governance, presenting lame excuses for taking
back his vow to enact the Freedom of Information Law and even bungling the
number of media victims -- 32 -- of the single deadliest attack on the press in
history but, worse, time and again making the media a whipping boy for
fulfilling its duties of informing the people of what his administration is
doing or not doing for them,” said Nonoy Espina.
“From
this day until the 23rd, and way beyond that, the NUJP, together with other
media organizations and freedom of expression advocates, will remind Benigno
Aquino III of how badly he has failed to fulfill his pledge to protect our
rights and freedoms and, because of this, how his hands are stained with the
blood of our fallen colleagues,” the statement ended.