The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the killing of Anibal Barrow whose dead body was found on 11 July near the city of San Pedro Sula.
“I condemn this killing,” the Director-General said. “I trust that the authorities will be able to bring to justice those responsible for this crime which undermines freedom of expression in Honduras and journalists’ ability to exercise their profession. Letting crimes against journalists go unpunished seriously undermines press freedom.”
Anibal Barrow, the former host of a popular morning talk show on Globo TV was kidnapped on 24 June in San Pedro Sula as he was travelling by car with a driver and members of his family.
The death of Barrow, the 20th journalist to be assassinated in Honduras since 2010, comes after a period in which the killings had been on the decline. Those killed are remembered on the dedicated webpage, UNESCO Condemns Killing of Journalists.
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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, +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…”