Bangladesh's name was not included on the 2022 Global Impunity Index, published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday, for the first time since 2008.
Bangladesh and Russia were not included this year since CPJ started the index in 2008 because these countries had four and three unsolved murders in the index period, respectively, below the cut-off of five required for inclusion in the report.
“But this does not mean that the press freedom or journalist safety environment has improved in these countries,” the CPJ said.
The watchdog said: “Bangladesh continues to jail journalists under the Digital Security Act, and one—Mushtaq Ahmed—died in jail under unclear circumstances in 2021, after allegedly suffering physical abuse in police custody. Ahmed's co-accused, cartoonist Kabir Kishore, told CPJ that he was tortured in custody.”
Global situation
In the decade since the United Nations launched a Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, 80% of the 263 journalists killed have been murdered with impunity, according to index.
The annual index is a striking reminder of the need for urgent interventions on behalf of journalists globally. An early collaborator on the UN plan, CPJ renews its calls for action by governments to prioritize journalist safety.
Somalia remains the worst offender on the index for the eighth straight year. Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, respectively, round out the top five countries on the index, which covers the period from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2022.
“Each of these countries has featured on CPJ's index multiple times, with their history of conflict, political instability, and weak rule of law underscoring the entrenched nature of impunity and making it unlikely that authorities will ever devote resources to seeking justice for the journalists.”
The CPJ said Myanmar made its first appearance on the index in 2022, its number eight ranking marking another grim milestone after joining the ranks of the world's worst jailers of journalists in CPJ's December 1, 2021, prison census.
In the wake of the democracy-suspending coup in February 2021, Myanmar's military junta has jailed dozens of journalists and used sweeping anti-state and false news laws to suppress independent reporting. It also has murdered at least three journalists, including two—Aye Kyaw and Soe Naing—who photographed protests against the regime and later were arrested and killed in custody.
But even in less volatile countries with democratically elected governments, authorities show little political will for prosecuting journalists' killers or curbing violence against the press.
Rather, leaders, such as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, regularly launch verbal attacks on the media even as reporters face constant threats for their vital reporting on crime, corruption, and environmental issues.
Mexico is one of the most egregious cases. The CPJ has documented 28 unsolved journalist murders there in the past 10 years—the most of any country on the index and the Western Hemisphere's most dangerous for journalists. It ranks sixth on CPJ's index, in part because the ratings are calculated based on the country's population size.
At least 13 journalists were killed in Mexico in the first nine months of 2022, the highest number CPJ has ever documented in that country in a single year. At least three of those journalists were murdered in direct retaliation for their reporting on crime and political corruption, and had received threats prior to their deaths. The CPJ is investigating the motive in the 10 other killings to determine if they were work-related.
In Brazil—which ranked ninth on the index—several events in 2022 drove home the persistent risks for reporters in the country. In June, British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous issues expert Bruno Pereira were murdered in the Amazon by people whom police suspect have ties to illegal fishing in the region.
Their high-profile murders spotlighted the dangers faced by journalists covering the Amazon and the environmental beat in general. Earlier, in February, the murder of community journalist Givanildo Oliveira by alleged members of the criminal organization known as the Red Command raised concerns about the increasing risks faced by reporters in Brazil's favelas and marginalized communities.
In the Philippines—which ranked seventh on the index—the election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr brought hope of a shift away from outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign of intimidation and harassment of the press.
However, the murders of two radio commentators—Percival Mabasa, a vocal critic of Duterte and Marcos Jr, and Renato Blanco, who reported on local politics and corruption—since Marcos Jr took office in late June raised fears that the culture of violence and impunity will endure.
Pakistan and India were ranked 10th and 11th on the index, respectively. Both have appeared on the index every year since CPJ first started compiling it in 2008, demonstrating the persistent nature of impunity and violence against the press in these countries.
The CPJ and partner organizations have joined forces in several recent initiatives to combat impunity around the world. One, the “A Safer World For The Truth” project, investigates cold cases of murdered journalists, uncovering new information and advocating for domestic criminal proceedings to be reopened.
Earlier this year, at the project's People's Tribunal in The Hague, witnesses gave testimony on the 2009 murder of Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, and presented an abundance of evidence pointing to the culpability in the killing of the Ministry of Defense—led at the time by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned as the country's president in July.
