Every 22 hours a journalist is a victim of some kind of attack in Mexico.
That is the finding of a recent survey, according to Mexican Carlos Salinas, the regional vice-president for Latin America of the Press Freedom Committee of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).
The Inter American Press Association (Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa) is a press advocacy group representing media organizations in North America, South America and the Caribbean.
IAPA has two autonomous affiliates – the IAPA Press Institute, which offers Latin American members advice on technical publishing matters and politics, and the IAPA Scholarship Fund, which provides funds for educational activities.
IAPA is a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, a global network of more than 70 non-governmental organisations that monitors press freedom and freedom of expression violations worldwide.
Most of these threats, aggressions or attacks are not denounced out of fear of repression and due to self-censorship, according to the “Freedom of Press Report” that was presented during the opening of IAPA’s international meeting in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Most of the victims are women, with a total of 84 registered cases in 2015. Besides physical attacks, 165 arbitrary arrests and threats by government officials have also been denounced.
Salinas concluded saying that a report issued by the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico indicates that, from January 2000 to January 2016, 109 female journalists have been murdered in Mexico, 48 more attacks on women journalists have been reported, and 20 have been reported missing, with their remains never found.
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