10 December 2003
WIPC CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON WRITERS AND IMPUNITY
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) has called on governments to place the highest priority on ending the impunity surrounding the murders of writers and journalists around the world.
At International PEN's 69th congress last month in Mexico City, the WiPC highlighted 16 countries where attacks on writers and journalists are particularly serious. They include Algeria, Belarus, Burma, China, Iran, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
More than 400 writers and journalists around the world have been killed in the past decade and most of the murders have gone unpunished, says WiPC.
In the past 12 months, 23 writers and journalists were killed for their work, including three in Colombia and two in Brazil. Meanwhile, WiPC has recorded 775 attacks on writers and journalists since January 2003, including 250 cases of legal harassment. The number of imprisoned writers and journalists worldwide totals 228.
Read more about WiPC's work here: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/
PEN Canada, another IFEX member, has been leading a year-long campaign on impunity and freedom of expression. "The fact that very few of these murders have been solved points to official involvement in the crimes. As long as authorities in such countries remain incapable of carrying out serious, impartial and effective investigations that lead to the identification and punishment of those responsible, the number of solved cases will continue to be alarmingly low," says the organisation.
PEN Canada's website features an "Impunity Watch" that monitors journalists killed since December 2002 and provides information for letter-writing campaigns.
Click here to visit the website: http://www.pencanada.ca/impunity/index.html
Visit the Inter American Press Association's website to find out how to help end impunity: http://www.impunidad.com/
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