A draft text for a United Nations resolution to chase governments that fail to hunt down those responsible for killing of journalists has been presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. IFJ General Secretary Aidan White, acting on behalf of the IFJ and the International News Safety Institute, presented the final draft to the World Electronic Media Forum in Tunis on the sidelines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

The meeting unanimously adopted the text, which was then handed over to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a special session along with calls for urgent UN action to combat the scourge of violence against journalists.

Annan expressed sympathy with the plight of journalists covering conflict and other dangerous stories around the world. According to INSI records, 86 news media staffs have died in the course of their work this year so far, after a decade-long record 117 in 2004.

"The United Nations … defends your right, as journalists, to be free from physical intimidation and harm," he told the WEMF meeting.

He noted the vast majority of the 1,200-plus journalists killed around the world in the past 10 years "were deliberately hunted down and murdered, often in direct reprisal for their reporting." Few of their killers ever face justice.

"I will continue to press Governments to uphold their responsibility both to create conditions in which journalists can do their job safely, and to bring to justice those who commit crimes against them," he said.

The Forum was organised by the European Broadcasting Union with the support of the Arab States Broadcasting Union, UNESCO and other media groups.

INSI and the IFJ are trying to gather governmental support for the resolution to be put before the UN Security Council.

If adopted the resolution would give the Secretary General for the first time an opportunity to monitor how governments are chasing down the killers of journalists and to put before the Security Council proposals for further action. One key recommendation is for governments who persistently refuse to track down the killers of journalists to be reported to the International Criminal Court.

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