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UNESCO Director-General condemns murder of Colombian journalist Luis Carolos Peralta Cuéllar

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today denounced the murder of Colombian journalist Luis Carlos Peralta Cuéllar, who was killed on 14 February near his home at El Doncello.

“I condemn the murder of Luis Carlos Peralta Cuéllar in the strongest possible terms and urge the Colombian authorities to do their utmost to bring the authors of his heinous crime to justice,” said the Director-General. “Press freedom is one of the pillars of democracy and good governance. Journalists must be able to exercise their profession without fearing for their lives.”

Luis Carlos Peralta Cuéllar, 63, was the owner and director of the Linda Stereo radio station. He regularly reported on corruption and had received several threats to his life.

The Director-General of UNESCO issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States at the Organization’s General Conference of 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.” These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

 

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

 

 

UNESCO is the 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 the Organization is requested 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…”