Day highlighting journalists under fire focuses on protection during elections [Video]

Between January 2019 and June 2022, the agency documented 759 individual attacks against journalists, including five killings, during 89 elections in 70 countries.

Most of these attacks – which included beating and arbitrary arrest – were committed by police and security forces.

Attacked from all around 

The findings come in a report published in tandem with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed annually on 2 November.

It examines the role of law enforcement agents, in ensuring the safety of journalists during public demonstrations and elections. 

From January 2015 to August 2021, UNESCO registered incidents in at least 101 countries where journalists were attacked while covering protests, public demonstrations and riots. At least 13 were killed in such contexts. 

Journalists were injured by police firing non-lethal ammunition, such as rubber bullets or pepper balls. Many others were arrested, beaten and in a few cases humiliated. 

“At the same time, a …