Sri Lanka exits Global Impunity Index for journalists | Sunday Observer

Sri Lanka exits Global Impunity Index for journalists

3 December, 2017

Sri Lanka has managed to exit the CPJ’s (Committee to Project Journalists) Global Impunity Index – 2017, indicating the reduction in violence committed against journalists. The index ranks countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go scot free.

“Seven countries on this year’s index have been listed every year since the index launched a decade ago - including Somalia, which is the worst country for unsolved murders for the third year in a row,” the report reveals. Along with Sri Lanka Afghanistan, Colombia, Sierra Leone and Nepal have exited the list following cessation of violence. Colombia and Nepal convicted the perpetrators of journalist killings, and only in a handful of cases.

Currently, Somalia, Syria and Iraq hold first second and third places respectively in the index while India is at the 12th place.

With the Yahpalana government coming into power investigations into murders, Kidnapping and other violence against journalists were expedited and pursued independently.

CJP in calculating the Impunity Index calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders that take place within a period of one year and that remain unsolved as a percentage of each country’s population.

“Only those nations with five or more unsolved cases are included in this index. CPJ defines murder as a deliberate attack against a specific journalist in relation to the victim’s work,” the report reads.

The index only analyzes murders that have been carried out with complete impunity; it does not include those where partial justice has been achieved. Population data from the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Indicators were used in calculating each country’s rating. 

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