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News > Latin America

138 Mexican Journalists Killed between 2000 and 2018: Report

  • A group of journalists and human rights activists protest on June 15, 2017.

    A group of journalists and human rights activists protest on June 15, 2017. | Photo: EFE FILE

Published 16 August 2018
Opinion

For several human rights activists, the profession of journalism is a "high risk" one in Mexico.

A recently released report by the Mexican National Commision for Human Rights (CNDH) has revealed that between 2000 and March 2018, 138 journalists have been murdered in Mexico, 14 of those are women. The report, which was released as a part of the "With Violence There Is No Freedom of Speech," detailed the challenges faced by journalist and media workers in that country.

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According to the report, the profession of journalism is "high risk" in Mexico, and that negatively impacts the public's right to be adequately informed on national issues. 

"It is only part of the complex panorama that human rights face, a critical panorama of human rights. Our country demands urgent actions," Luis Raul Gonzalez Perez, president of the CNDH, said during the launch of the report. 

The campaign aims to highlight the risks faced by communicators in the country, as well as show the relevance of their work and the need to protect and give them the proper conditions to fulfill their duties.

"The high rate of impunity generates spaces of silence in the country and violates the fundamental principles of an open, plural and democratic society. In #CNDH we work for them, and so #Journalists can exercise their profession without fear. #ZeroViolenceMoreJournalism."
 

"The death and disappearance of a journalist changes the whole environment, and that is what they have been stealing from us, and that is what we have not been fighting for," said Maria Idalia Gomez, editorial chief of EJE Central.

Journalists and rights activists have said that the country's authorities are not interests in taking actions against the murder and disappearance of journalists. On the contrary, it is common that journalists as victims are linked with their victimizers in an attempt to justify the killings, which makes impunity a regular occurrence.

Mexico has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice the journalistic profession. In 2017, Reporters Without Borders registered 11 murders in the North American nation, declaring it the most dangerous country for journalists along with Syria. Other human rights organizations, as Amnesty International, have given recommendations to the state to improve the human rights and journalists situation in the country.

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