２０２３年に殺害されたジャーナリスト９９人、うち７７人がガザで死亡

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ニューヨークを拠点とする国際報道ＮＰＯ、ジャーナリスト保護委員会（ＣＰＪ）は１５日、昨年世界で殺害されたジャーナリストは９９人だったと発表した。前年比約４４％増で、２０１５年以来最多だった。（写真は資料写真）
　ＣＰＪの報告によると、９９人のうち７７人は、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区を実効支配するイスラム組織ハマスとイスラエルの紛争で犠牲となった。７２人がパレスチナ人で、３人がレバノン人、２人がイスラエル人だった。
　ＣＰＪは、ガザ紛争での死者がなければ、世界的に減少に転じていたはずだと指摘。昨年１２月の報告を引用し、「一つの国の１年の犠牲数を上回るジャーナリストが、イスラエル・ガザ紛争の最初の３か月で殺害された」と述べた。
　ジョディ・ギンズバーグ代表は、「ガザ取材陣は最前線で証人となっている。この紛争でパレスチナ人ジャーナリストが被った甚大な損失は、パレスチナのみならず中東、さらに他の地域のジャーナリズムにも長期的な影響を与えるだろう。ジャーナリストが殺されるたびに、世界に対する私たちの理解は打撃を受ける」と語った。
　ＣＰＪは今月７日には、ガザ紛争で死亡したジャーナリストの数は計８５人に上ったと発表していた。
　ＣＰＪは以前から、イスラエル軍がジャーナリストを「迫害」していると非難してきた。ガザ紛争で殺害されたジャーナリスト１２人については、イスラエル軍が意図的に狙った「戦争犯罪」に該当するかどうか現在調査中だとしている。
　一方、ウクライナで死亡した記者は、前年の１３人から２人へと減った。このうちの一人が、東部バフムートで取材中に犠牲になったＡＦＰ通信のアルマン・ソルディン氏（３２）だった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/16-19:42）

Seventy-seven of the 99 journalists killed in 2023 were killed in the Israel-Hamas war, making the last 12 months the deadliest for the media in almost a decade, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.
Killings of reporters would have dropped globally year-on-year had it not been for the deaths in that conflict, the CPJ said, although fatalities were stable in Somalia and the Philippines.
The toll is the highest since 2015 and an increase of nearly 44 percent on 2022's figures.
In December 2023, CPJ reported that more journalists were killed in the first three months of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, the CPJ said.
The vast majority of the 77 journalists killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict -- 72 of them -- were Palestinian, the organization said. Three Lebanese and two Israelis were also killed.
Journalists in Gaza are bearing witness on the frontlines, said CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg.
The immense loss suffered by Palestinian journalists in this war will have long-term impacts for journalism not just in the Palestinian territories but for the region and beyond. Every journalist killed is a further blow to our understanding of the world.
On February 7, the New York-based press freedom organization said the number of journalists killed in the Gaza conflict had risen to 85.
CPJ has previously attacked what it calls persecution of journalists by Israeli forces, and is investigating whether a dozen journalists killed in the Gaza conflict were deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers, which would constitute a war crime.
Israel vowed to crush Hamas in response to the Islamist group's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took around 250 people hostage, in the deadliest-ever attack in the country, and around 130 of them are believed to remain in Gaza, including 29 who are believed to be dead.
At least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
The greatest reductions in journalist fatalities were registered in Ukraine and Mexico, which both went from 13 killings to two.
One of those killed in Ukraine was AFP journalist Arman Soldin. Soldin, 32, died when his reporting team came under fire near the eastern city of Bakhmut.
The CPJ warned that Mexico, along with the Philippines and Somalia, was one of the world's deadliest countries for the press.
Compounding the situation, government agencies spy on reporters and rights defenders, and a significant number of journalists have had to leave their homes, and abandon their professions, due to violence, the CPJ report warned.