Union slams UN for ignoring murders of Russian journalists

The Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) has asked the public to sign a petition to revise the latest UNESCO safety report on media workers. The publication has failed to carry sufficient information about Russian reporters either killed or targeted with prosecution over the past two years, the trade body complains.

Earlier this month, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay presented the organisation’s ‘Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity’. The publication, covering 2022 and 2023, claimed that 162 journalists, media workers, and social media producers had been killed over the indicated period. The report mentioned the killings of only two Russian media workers since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

“We urge you to support this initiative and send your consent to join the appeal to UNESCO by the Russian Union of Journalists,” the professional association said in a Telegram post on Friday, in order to “fight for truth and justice in the name of the memory of the fallen colleagues.”

The petition addressed to Azoulay was published by the RUJ earlier this week. It expresses deep indignation regarding the omissions in the controversial report.

The lack of information about media professionals from Russia in the publication “raises serious questions about the objectivity and impartiality of the report’s authors, especially in light of numerous accounts of attacks, threats, and the deaths of Russian journalists and media employees,” the letter reads.The association’s concerns are not the first criticism of the report. Moscow’s ambassador to UNESCO, Rinat Alyautdinov, had previously condemned the body for ignoring attacks on Russian journalists and the persecution of Russian media abroad.

RT

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