Natalya Estemirova & the Plight of Human Rights Investigators (discussion)
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Related subjects: Darfur crisis, Diplomacy & Politics, Discussion Forum, Media, Open Government, Press Freedom, Rights & Freedoms, Security & Surveillance, The Russian Federation, TheHotSpring.net, Transparency Yield Comments Off
Human Rights Activist Estemirova Murdered in Chechnya :: Natalya Estemirova, from the Russian human rights organization, the Memorial Human Rights Center, was kidnapped today while leaving her home in Grozny, the Chechen capital, and later found dead. She reportedly shouted to bystanders “This is a kidnapping!” No one was able to intervene, as four armed men grabbed her and put her into a white automobile. [Complete text...]
Natalya Estemirova is only the most recent victim of an apparently politically motivated assassination, carried out against a journalist or human rights worker investigating atrocities committed against civilians in furtherance of corrupt uses of state power. In an article on “Journalists Around the World at Risk of Violence or Imprisonment“, we explored this May the problem facing journalists across the globe, who still face mounting and extreme dangers just by virtue of doing their jobs.
Conflict zones are especially dangerous places, and even nations with a long and successful history of defending and promoting freedom of the press, like the United States, have warned crusading journalists that stepping outside strict protocols could put them in harm’s way with no guarantee of protection (Iraq war, 2003).
The north Caucasus region, Sudan’s Darfur, eastern DR Congo, Sri Lanka, Iraq and North Korea, are just an example of the range of physical risks journalists are facing. How can governments and news agencies work together to ensure greater freedom and better guarantees of protection for journalists doing the most necessary and most perilous work?
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