The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has denounced the killing of Philippines journalist Rubylita Garcia and called on the authorities to investigate the case.
“I condemn the murder of Rubylita Garcia,” the Director-General said. “It is essential that the authorities of the Philippines do all they can to identify and bring to trial those responsible for this cowardly crime. Murderers cannot be allowed to set limits to journalists’ freedom of expression or on citizens’ rights to information.”
Rubylita Garcia, 52—a reporter for the Remate newspaper in Bacoor City and host of a talk show on dwAD radio—was shot dead by two gunmen in her home on 6 April.
Garcia is the 9th journalist in the Philippines whose killing has been condemned by the Director-General since January 2013.
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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)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 ima