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83 Journalists Killed in ‘91, a Record

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Reuters

Eighty-three journalists have been killed on assignment this year, the highest annual toll on record, the International Federation of Journalists said Monday.

It said Yugoslavia’s civil war has claimed the lives of 21 print and photo journalists, and it expressed concern at reports that media representatives had been targeted by gunmen.

“It has been a murderous year for journalism,” federation President Mia Doornaert said. The organization will set up an international fund to aid journalists and their families who have been victims of violence.

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The Brussels-based agency said the 83 killings recorded this year--the highest since the organization has tallied deaths of journalists--took had taken place in 23 countries, including two in the United States and one in Canada.

But the federation added that it is especially worried by the high death toll in Latin America, where 22 journalists were killed.

“In Latin America journalists are under attack from drug gangs, paramilitary forces and terrorists. The war against press freedom has gone on too long,” it said in a statement.

The federation is campaigning for international protocols and conventions on rights of people in wartime to be strengthened to protect journalists and for the United Nations to declare censorship a formal violation of human rights.

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