Colombia improves against journalist violence

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Thursday said the Colombian government is improving its protection of journalists from violence.

“The Colombian government has made a significant commitment to journalist protection, and that commitment shows in its improved rating on the index,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon.

Of 13 countries with the highest violence ratings against the press, Colombia ranks fifth above Afghanistan and Mexico, indicating that the country still has progress to make.

According to the index, Colombia “showed its fourth consecutive year of improvement as deadly anti-press violence has slowed and authorities have had some success in prosecuting journalist murders.” However, eleven murders of journalists remain unsolved according to the index.

The CPJ Index, first published in 2008, calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population. “In order to reduce their ranking on the Impunity Index governments must do two things: Solve crimes and prevent further violence,” said Simon.

As is the case in Colombia, the CPJ reports that “local journalists are the victims in the vast majority of unsolved cases worldwide. Only about 6 percent of unsolved cases on the index involve international journalists slain while working abroad.”

Reports from June 3 state that the life of a local journalist in the southern Nariño department was saved when the wet matches his kidnappers struck to ignite his gasoline doused body would not catch fire.