The International Press Institute (IPI) today commemorated International Women’s Day by remembering eight female journalists who were murdered around the world in the past year and calling on authorities to bring their killers to justice.
“The tragic deaths of eight of our female colleagues in Honduras, Mexico, Syria, Iraq, the Philippines and Bangladesh in the line of work in the past year – in addition to the attacks and indignities suffered by so many other female journalists – are a stark reminder of the obstacles and the dangers that women face in this profession,” IPI Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. “Today, we remember them all. We note the sacrifices women around the world have made to advance the cause of journalism and we salute their courage.”
Today also marked the launch of a ground-breaking book dedicated to the safety of female journalists by the International News Safety Institute (INSI), a partner of IPI. The book, “No Woman’s Land: On the Frontlines with Female Reporters” provides an unprecedented insight into the safety of women practicing journalism in conflict and danger zones.
According to IPI’s Death Watch, Mexico and Iraq were the deadliest countries for female journalists in the last 12 months. Six of the eight deaths occurred during 2011, while two others have occurred since the beginning of this year.
In Mexico, Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, a police beat reporter for daily newspaper Notiver in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, was found dead on July 26, 2011 behind the headquarters of another newspaper with her throat slit. Two months later, María Elizabeth Macías Castro was found decapitated in Nuevo Laredo near keyboards, cables and a CD player with a note stating that she was there because of her reports on social networking websites.
In Iraq, IranNtv.com journalists Asieh Rakhshani and Saba Haftbaradaran were both killed on Apr. 8, 2011 when the camp in which they were living with other Iranian exiles was raided by Iraqi solders. Rakhshani, who grew up in the United States, was reportedly filming the clash between camp residents and the soldiers when she was killed.
Filipina journalist Maria Len Flores-Somera, an anchor of the daily morning program Arangkada Kinse Trenta on radio station dzME, was shot on the morning of Mar. 24, 2011 by unidentified men while she was on her way to the station.
Honduran journalist Luz Marina Paz Villalobos – the director of the program “Three in the News” on the Honduras News Chain – was killed Dec. 6, 2011 in Tegucigalpa when two men on a motorcycle intercepted her car and fired dozens of bullets.
In Bangladesh, journalist Mehrun Run, a senior reporter at ATN Bangla television, was found dead in a pool of blood along with her husband, fellow journalist Sagar Sarwar, in their home in the capital city of Dhaka on Feb. 11, 2012.
Just over two weeks ago, American journalist Marie Colvin of the London-based Sunday Times, was killed in an attack on a makeshift press centre in the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Feb. 22.
