Today is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists

This day was established in 2013 by a resolution of the UN General Assembly. Its goal is to draw public attention to the fact that most crimes against journalists go unpunished. According to UNESCO,  no one bore responsibility in 9 out of 10 such cases.

Fortunately, Kazakh journalists were not killed or kidnapped. But we also cannot be proud of journalism in our country being a safe profession. Since the beginning of the year, “Adil Soz” has recorded 77 cases of interfering with legal professional activity of journalist, 7 detentions of media workers, 16 attacks on journalists, 2 cases of surveillance, 30 threats.

The reasons why the perpetrators evade responsibility often reach absurd lengths. Thus, in Kokshetau, a criminal case against a man who attacked Oksana Matasova, 716.kz reporter,  was dropped. The police decided that the attacker simply did not hear when the journalist introduced herself to him.

In Petropavlovsk, the security guards of a shopping  center attacked journalists Samat Dzhakupov, Natalya Volkova and cameraman Tolegen Imanov  with fists. Despite the  video recordings, the law enforcement authorities considered that the journalists were to blame.

On June 10, Azamat Maitanov, the editor-in-chief of the Ak Zhaiyk newspaper, reportered the police  about threats to his life and health. No one was ever brought to justice.

Since July 2019, the case of an attack on journalists in the office of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights has been under investigation. Despite the fact that the victims provided the police with photos and videos of the attackers and even identified some of them, things haven't got forward an inch.

So there is no surprise that Kazakhstan ranked 155 out of 180 in the Press Freedom Index, losing even to such countries as Honduras, Pakistan and South Sudan and getting into the "red zone".

It is high time to heed the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who, in his message on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, said: “I urge Member States and the international community to stand in solidarity with journalists around the world today and every day, and to demonstrate the political will needed to investigate and prosecute crimes against journalists and media workers with the full force of the law”.

If the law enforcement agencies again refer to the fact that someone did not hear the said words well, then Kazakhstan risks to move into the “black zone” of press freedom very soon and to stand on a par with Iraq and Somalia.