Reporters Without Borders: 65 journalists were killed in 2017

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have published the annual collection of violence and abuse against journalists worldwide.

A total of 65 journalists were killed in 2017, while 326 are currently in prison while 54 journalists have been held hostage.

Journalists are leaving Syria, Yemen and Libya these countries that have become very dangerous, but Reporters Without Borders have reported that journalists need protection.

The UN has adopted several resolutions on journalists' security since 2006, and many news organisations have adopted security procedures.

The decline is not valid for the deaths of women journalists, who have doubled. Ten women were killed in 2017, compared with 2016, where five cases occurred. Most of these victims were investigative war experience reporters.

Despite the threats, they continued to investigate and expose corruption cases. The victims include Daphne Carwana Gallizia in Malta, Gaur Lankesh in India and Miroslava Breach Veldwea in Mexico.

In another important trend in 2017, some countries that are not at war have become almost as dangerous to journalists as war zones: 46% of deaths occurred in countries where there is no open war, versus 2016, where about 30% of cases occurred. There have been 11 cases of journalists in Mexico, while in Syria, which was the deadliest place for journalists in 2017, 12 gzetars have died.

“The researchers working in major stories such as corruption and environmental scandals play a fundamental role supervisory and have become targets for those angry with their reporting”, the secretary general has said. RSF, Christopher Deloire.

“This situation is alarming underscores the need to give journalists more protection at a time when both news reporting challenges and risks are becoming more and more internationalised”, Deloire has said.

Like the death toll, the number of journalists in custody has also declined. A total of 326 journalists have been held in prison since December 1, 2017, 6% less than in 2016.

Although the number of journalists in prison has dropped, there is an extremely high number of journalists arrested at certain locations, such as Russia and Morocco. However, about half the total number of jailed journalists are being held in only five countries. China and Turkey are still the world's two largest prisons for journalists. They are followed by Syria, Iran and Vietnam.

Finally, 54 journalists are currently being held by non-state armed groups like the Islamic State and Houthis in Yemen. Almost three-quarters of these hostages come from among local journalists, who usually get paid little and often have to take big risks. Foreign journalists currently held hostage have been kidnapped in Syria, but few are known for their current whereabouts.