Sri Lanka retains place on CPJ’s Impunity Index
May 3, 2013 03:15 pm
Sri Lanka has been ranked 4th by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its 2013 Impunity Index, which lists unsolved journalist murders.
Sri Lanka’s impunity rating among 12 countries, where at least five journalists have been murdered and governments have failed to win any convictions, was unchanged from 2012.
“... Four years after the end of the nation’s long civil war, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration has shown no interest in pursuing the perpetrators in nine journalist murders over the past decade, the CPJ has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, which covers the years 2003-12.
CPJ’s analysis found that journalist murders have slowed in Sri Lanka, however added that it has failed completely in the prosecution of numerous past slayings.
“All of the victims had reported on politically sensitive issues in ways that were critical of the Rajapaksa government. The cases include the fatal 2009 beating of prominent newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga”, the nonprofit group said in its report, released Thursday.
Sri Lanka is ranked 4th with an Impunity Index Rating of 0.431 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants. The 2013 rating was topped by Iraq, followed by Somalia and Philippines.
The global index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, also found soaring impunity rates in Nigeria, Somalia, Pakistan, and Brazil.
Sri Lanka’s impunity rating among 12 countries, where at least five journalists have been murdered and governments have failed to win any convictions, was unchanged from 2012.
“... Four years after the end of the nation’s long civil war, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration has shown no interest in pursuing the perpetrators in nine journalist murders over the past decade, the CPJ has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, which covers the years 2003-12.
CPJ’s analysis found that journalist murders have slowed in Sri Lanka, however added that it has failed completely in the prosecution of numerous past slayings.
“All of the victims had reported on politically sensitive issues in ways that were critical of the Rajapaksa government. The cases include the fatal 2009 beating of prominent newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga”, the nonprofit group said in its report, released Thursday.
Sri Lanka is ranked 4th with an Impunity Index Rating of 0.431 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants. The 2013 rating was topped by Iraq, followed by Somalia and Philippines.
The global index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, also found soaring impunity rates in Nigeria, Somalia, Pakistan, and Brazil.
