A record number of 488 media professionals are imprisoned around the world, deplores Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its annual report, published Thursday, December 16, which however records a number of journalists killed (46) at the lowest for 20 years.
“Never since the creation of RSF’s annual report in 1995 has the number of jailed journalists been so high”, notes the NGO for the defense of press freedom in a press release.
This exceptional increase, of around 20% in one year, “is mainly the work of three countries”, namely Burma, Belarus and China, whose national security law imposed in 2020 in Hong Kong has caused a sharp increase in the detentions of journalists in this territory, points out RSF.
“Never before has RSF counted so many female journalists detained”, in total 60, a third more than in 2020, deplores the association.
While men still represent the majority of jailed journalists around the world (87.7%), Belarus is the country that has locked up more female journalists (17) than male colleagues (15).
The five countries where the largest number of journalists were detained on December 1 are China (127), Burma (53), Vietnam (43), Belarus (32) and Saudi Arabia (31).
The number of journalists and media professionals killed, with 46 dead, reached its lowest level in 20 years, notes the organization.
“This downward trend, which has been accentuated since 2016, can be explained in particular by the development of regional conflicts (Syria, Iraq and Yemen) and the stabilization of the fronts after 2012 and 2016, which were particularly deadly.“, RSF analysis.
The majority of these deaths are assassinations: “65% of those killed are knowingly targeted and eliminated”, denounces the association. Mexico and Afghanistan are still the two most dangerous countries for journalists this year, with 7 and 6 respectively killed, followed by Yemen and India in third place, with 4 journalists killed each.