THE POLITY EDITORIAL
Ending Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists
Today, November 2, the world marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. It is a day set aside by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, following the brutal murder of two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, in Mali. But beyond the symbolism, it is a day that forces every democracy to look at itself in the mirror.
The numbers are chilling. According to UNESCO, more than 1,700 journalists have been killed around the world in the last two decades while doing their work. In nine out of ten cases, no one has been punished. The killers walk free. The masterminds remain untouched. That is impunity and needless to say, it is the most dangerous threat to press freedom.
Impunity does not only bury a journalist; It buries the truth that journalist was chasing.
In Nigeria, we are not in a war zone, yet the environment for journalists remains perilous. During elections, journalists are beaten and their equipment destroyed. During protests, they are tear-gassed, arrested and labelled as troublemakers. The Cybercrimes Act, originally designed to combat internet fraud, has increasingly become a tool to harass, detain and silence journalists for reports that embarrass the powerful. Phones are seized, cameras are smashed, and newsrooms are raided often without any consequence for the perpetrators.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Media Rights Agenda has consistently documented these abuses. What is striking is not just the attacks, but the lack of accountability afterwards. Investigations, where they happen at all, go cold. Cases are adjourned till public memory fades. This culture of impunity sends a clear message: you can attack a journalist and get away with it. And when that message sinks in, self-censorship becomes the norm, and democracy suffers.
The irony is that the Nigerian Constitution, in Section 22, expressly mandates the press to hold government accountable to the people. How can the press hold power to account when power itself does not protect the press?
Ending impunity requires deliberate action. First, the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services(DSS)0 must treat attacks on journalists as serious crimes deserving prompt, transparent investigation not as internal matters to be covered up when their own men are involved.
Second, the Attorney-General of the Federation must ensure prosecution of such cases. There must be a public register of attacks on journalists and the status of investigation, as recommended by UNESCO’s Journalists Safety Indicators.
Third, the Federal Government should adopt the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, which Nigeria endorsed, and 0domesticate it through the National Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Information.
Finally, media owners and professional bodies, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors, Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria must do more to protect their own. Safety training, legal support, insurance and solidarity when one journalist is attacked are not luxuries; they are necessities.
Journalism is not a crime. Reporting is not terrorism. Interviewing a source, recording a programme, publishing a document, all these are legitimate journalistic duties.
On this day, news hounds stand in solidarity with all journalists in Nigeria and around the world who have faced threats, harassment, detention and death for doing their job. We remember those who have paid the ultimate price.
A nation that cannot protect its journalists cannot protect its citizens. If those who speak for the voiceless are silenced with impunity, then all voices will eventually be silenced.
The time to end impunity is now.
