The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the murder of Carlos Mejía Orellana, whose body was found in his home in the city of El Progreso in the north of Honduras on 11 April.
“I condemn the murder of Carlos Mejía Orellana,” said the Director-General. “It is essential that this crime be the subject of a thorough investigation and acts of violence and intimidation against journalists in Honduras must be stopped.”
Marketing manager Carlos Mejía Orellana, had worked for Progresso radio for the past 13 years. Protection had been requested for Mejia after he had received death threats. According to the manager of the radio, Jesuit priest Ismael Moreno, 15 employees have received such threats.
“Any journalist or media worker that feels threatened must be able to rely on effective protection upon request,” added the Director-General.
Carlos Mejía Orellana is the fourth media worker killed in Honduras since January 2013. The list of journalists whose killing has been condemned by UNESCO is available on line.
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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 image…”