Director-General condemns killing of journalist Didace Namujimbo in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Paris, 27 November

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today condemned the killing of Didace Namujimbo of Radio Okapi in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He welcomed the call of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for a full investigation of this crime.

“I condemn the murder of Didace Namujimbo,” Mr Matsuura declared. “Journalists are being targeted because of their work, yet telling the story is particularly important in view of the extreme violence affecting the region. It is therefore important that this killing be investigated fully and condemned.”

Didace Namujimbo, 34, was killed on 21 November on his way home. He worked for the radio station of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). The station is managed in partnership with Fondation Hirondelle, a Swiss nongovernmental organization.

Didace Namujimbo is the second Radio Okapi journalist to be shot dead in Bukavu in just one year and the sixth media professional to be killed in similar circumstances in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the last three years, according to the NGO Journaliste en Danger.

UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this purpose the Organization is required to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”

• Author(s):Press Release N°2008-123
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 27-11-2008