General Federation of Trade Unions
News Xtra
NUJ joins global day of solidarity for Philippine journalists
Posted on Wednesday, December 09, 2009
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear last night called on the Foreign Secretary David Miliband to put pressure on the Philippine government to carry out an immediate inquiry into the massacre of 59 people in Maguindanao province.
At a TUC meeting with the minister, the General Secretary personally handed him a letter from the NUJ and asked him to throw his weight behind the international campaign for justice.
Victims of the massacre on 23 November included 30 journalists and media workers – one journalist is still missing.
“This terrible atrocity, the worst mass killing of journalists on records, cannot go unpunished. It is not an isolated crime, there is a clear pattern of systematic violence against the media in the Philippines. The British government must do all it can to bring an end to the culture of impunity for the murders of journalists,” said Jeremy Dear.
Prior to this attack, at least 75 journalists have been killed under the Arroyo government, making the Philippines the most dangerous country for journalists outside Iraq.
To date, only four cases have seen successful prosecutions.Journalist unions around the world, including the NUJ, have responded to a call from the International Federation of Journalists to join a global day of solidarity today, extending solidarity and support to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and putting pressure on the Arroyo government to end the culture of impunity.
9 December 2009
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