The Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, denounced today the killing of reporter Véronique Robert, who died on 24 June in France after being injured by an explosive device in Mosul (Iraq).
“I deplore the death of Véronique Robert” said the Director General. “Violence of any kind is unacceptable, and especially when it is used to silence those who shed light on a society in conflict.”
Veteran journalist, Veronique Robert was assigned to Iraq for the France 2 TV channel’s programme “Envoyé Spécial”.She was transferred to a hospital near the French capital after being seriously wounded on 19 June. Two of her colleagues, Stephan Villeneuve and Bakhtyar Haddad, lost their lives during the same attack.
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.
***
Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 1
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…”