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The Reporters Without Borders (RWB) has called for improved security arrangements for journalists working in conflict-affected regions across the world, saying that as many as 21 journalists and six netizens have been killed since the beginning of 2012, many of them in war zones such as Somalia and Syria . Because of the growing dangers to journalists, the RWB urged the news media to begin a debate about the protection of stringers, fixers and local journalists they used, and about the protection of their sources and the people they interviewed. It also called on governments to implement international provisions on the protection of journalists in an effective manner. The RWB also released a list of its “predators of the freedom to inform”, featuring 41 members. Pakistan ’s top three intelligence agencies – the Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and the Inter-Services Intelligence – are on the list, reports the Daily Times. “The world’s predators of the freedom to inform, led by Syria ’s Bashar al-Assad and Somalian militias, are capable of behaving like outright butchers,” it said. The RWB said, “Six new predators have joined this ‘evil club’ in 2012- Boko Haram, an Islamist group that spreads terror in Nigeria; Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has regrettably taken over from deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak as regards violating freedom of information; the Somali federal government’s information minister, who is responsible for harassment and intimidation of the media; Vasif Talibov, the all-powerful leader of Azerbaijan’s ‘autonomous republic’ of Nakhchivan; Pakistan’s intelligence agencies; and Kim Jong-un, who perpetuated North Korea’s predatory dictatorship on the death of his father, King Jong-il.” “There is a growing trend for countries to have more than one predator. Six countries now have two. Somalia has as the Islamist militia al-Shabaab as well as the information minister. Pakistan has the Taliban as well as the intelligence agencies. Azerbaijan has President Ilham Aliev as well as Nakhchivan’s strongman, Talibov, who has turned his fiefdom into a laboratory for the repressive methods that Aliev applies in the rest of the country,” it added. “In view of the turmoil resulting from the Arab springs, RWB has decided to accompany the region’s new governments during their progress towards democracy,” it also said.

Reporters Without Borders condemns attacks on journalists