UNITED NATIONS : Asserting that non-state terrorist groups “cannot act in a vacuum,” India has told the UN Security Council to act “robustly” and make nations take actions against such outfits.
“Accountability of member states faces a specific challenge with regard to non-state actors, especially terrorist groups, who act beyond the pale of law with impunity,” India’s Ambassador to UN Asoke Mukerji said at the Security Council open debate on ‘Protection of Journalists in Conflict Situations’ here yesterday.
He said the international community has witnessed acts committed by non-state terrorist groups against journalists in the recent past.
“However, even non-state terrorist groups cannot act in a vacuum. We believe that the Council, as the primary organ of the United Nations for maintaining international peace and security, needs to act robustly.
“It should do so using the instruments of law, using the information available to it, to make member states act against such non-state actors,” Mukerji said adding that the Council should also help those member states who may need assistance to strengthen their national capacities to take such action.
In the context of peacekeeping missions, Mukerji said India concurs with the view that aparticular focus should be given to the protection of journalists as a distinct category of civilians to be protected in terms of implementing the mandates.
He reiterated that this responsibility is vested in the member states hosting such peacekeeping operations.
“…It is also true that the threat faced by the journalists, as is the case with civilians in armed conflict situations, has undergone a significant change in recent years, especially due to the change in the nature and rising number of the armed conflicts.
“These often put journalists at specific risks. This situation calls for concerted efforts by all States and parties to ensure the safety of journalists in conflict situations,” he said.
Mukerji said it is not so much the lack of rules but the failure to implement existing norms which is wanting, in terms of protecting journalists working in conflict areas from harm.
“It is pertinent therefore to reiterate that protection of journalists in all situations is the foremost responsibility of every State, and States should do everything possible in their reach in fulfilling this obligation,” he added.
On the issue of best practices for protecting journalists
in conflict situations, he said journalists should function within the relevant domestic laws of the countries concerned, seek access in a legal manner and maintain strict neutrality and impartiality and not become a party to the conflict.
The 15-nation Council expressed deep concern over the frequency of acts of violence in many parts of the world against media professionals in armed conflict and adopted a resolution condemning all violations and abuses committed against journalists and strongly deploring impunity for such acts.
The unanimously adopted resolution, which affirmed that the work of a free, independent and impartial media constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society, “and thereby can contribute to the protection of civilians,” urged nations to take appropriate steps to ensure accountability for crimes committed against journalists in situations of armed conflict and to ensure accountability for crimes committed against journalists.
Council members also urged the immediate and unconditional release of journalists who have been kidnapped or taken as hostages, in situations of armed conflict.
The high-level meeting, which was chaired by Linas Linkevicius, Foreign Minister of Lithuania, which holds the Council’s presidency for the month, also heard from the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, who pointed to the “troubling” rise in the number of journalists killed since 2006 and the increasing targeting and threatening of journalists by criminal and terrorist groups.
“We know that armed conflict not only endangers the life and safety of journalists,” he said.
“It also limits the free flow of information, eroding rule of law and democracy. We should recall that conflict can easily be exacerbated in an environment that stifles freedom of expression.”
In an impassioned address, Mariane Pearl, the widow of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002, said this is “a troubled time” for journalism, noting the extent of killings of journalists, with 25 killed around the world in just the first five months of 2015.
“In 2014, impunity in journalism murder cases reached a staggering 96 per cent and the remaining four per cent obtained only partial justice,” she said.
“Mass surveillance by some Security Council member States puts journalists and their sources at risk, undermining the trust and confidentiality vital to quality journalism. And an increasing number of countries are now using anti-terrorism laws to muzzle the press even further.”
Pearl welcomed the “rhetorical commitments” by States to tackle the safety of journalists and impunity, including the UN Plan of Action.
“But we need to see more concerted efforts on the ground to actually implement them,” she said. (AGENCIES)
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