Last but not least: Women journalists have little reason to celebrate on Women's Day
On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, Reporters Without Borders draws attention to the plight of all those women who are threatened, intimidated, arrested, or even murdered because of their work as journalists.
On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, Reporters Without Borders recalls the fate of all those women who are threatened, intimidated, arrested or even murdered because of their work as journalists. In 2006 alone, eleven female reporters lost their lives in the exercise of their profession, and seven female journalists have to spend March 8 behind bars. The organization cites the murder of Anna Polikovskaya last October as the most prominent example of the danger to investigative journalists. The mother of two paid for her critical stance on the Russian government's Chechnya policy with her life.
Of the 82 reporters killed in the line of duty in 2006, eleven were women, which equates to nine percent. In 2005, the figure was almost 13 percent. In 2004 it was 7.5 percent, in 2003 it was 2.5 percent.
Central Asia proved to be a particularly dangerous place for female journalists in 2006. Ogulsapar Muradova, Radio Free Europe correspondent in Turkmenistan, died in prison in September. She had been arrested in June after publishing reports critical of the authorities and helping a French journalist with her TV documentary about Turkmenistan. In neighboring Uzbekistan, journalist and human rights activist Umida Niyazova has been behind bars since 22 January. She is facing between five and ten years in prison for circulating witness statements about the massacre in Andijan in 2005.
Female reporters have also been victims of the violence perpetrated by armed groups in Iraq. Atwar Bahjat from the television station Al-Arabiya was kidnapped with her team and later murdered after reporting on the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006.
Reporters Without Borders particularly welcomes the commitment of all those courageous women who stand up for freedom of the press and freedom of expression worldwide. And finally, some good news: so far this year, no female journalists have lost their lives.
Of the 82 reporters killed in the line of duty in 2006, eleven were women, which equates to nine percent. In 2005, the figure was almost 13 percent. In 2004 it was 7.5 percent, in 2003 it was 2.5 percent.
Central Asia proved to be a particularly dangerous place for female journalists in 2006. Ogulsapar Muradova, Radio Free Europe correspondent in Turkmenistan, died in prison in September. She had been arrested in June after publishing reports critical of the authorities and helping a French journalist with her TV documentary about Turkmenistan. In neighboring Uzbekistan, journalist and human rights activist Umida Niyazova has been behind bars since 22 January. She is facing between five and ten years in prison for circulating witness statements about the massacre in Andijan in 2005.
Female reporters have also been victims of the violence perpetrated by armed groups in Iraq. Atwar Bahjat from the television station Al-Arabiya was kidnapped with her team and later murdered after reporting on the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February 2006.
Reporters Without Borders particularly welcomes the commitment of all those courageous women who stand up for freedom of the press and freedom of expression worldwide. And finally, some good news: so far this year, no female journalists have lost their lives.
