PARIS, Nov 2 (KUNA) -- Journalists are becoming more and more frequent targets in many regions of the world, with dozens killed each year and many others suffering abuses like kidnapping, torture, imprisonment and harassment, UNESCO said in a report issued Wednesday.
The report, which coincides with "The International Day to End Impunity for Attacks against Journalists," said that 827 press professionals had been killed over the past ten years while doing their jobs. There was also a sharp increase in deaths in the past two years of the 2006-2015 study due largely to fatalities in conflict zones in the Middle East, according to a statement by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
The most notorious countries in the Arab Region for journalists' deaths were Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, and the Arab Region in the 2013-2015 period accounted for one third of all fatalities.
But UNESCO also noted that there was a worrying rise in attacks against journalists in Europe and North America, where 11 people were killed in 2015 compared with none at all in 2014.
Online citizen journalists or bloggers are also being targeted more, the report said, noting 21 bloggers were murdered in 2015 - half of them in Syria - while only two bloggers were killed in 2014. (end) jk.mt