To mark World Refugee Day on Wednesday, June 20, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its latest report showing 57 journalists were forced into exile between June 1, 2011, and May 31, 2012. Most of the exiled journalists (seven) came from Somalia, and most (15) fled to the United States. More than half (58 percent) went into exile because of the threat of violence, and 46 percent were exiled because of the threat of imprisonment.
The news comes just as 15 reporters have fled the violence of Veracruz, Mexico, reported E-Consulta. Also, during the 10th Austin Forum on Journalism in the Americas in May, photojournalist Miguel Ángel López Solana, also of Veracruz, announced that he was seeking political asylum in the United States
During the past 12 months, six of the exiled journalists came from countries in the Americas, with three fleeing from Ecuador. In fact, Ecuador ranked No. 7 among top countries that journalists fled in the past year. In the past year, journalists have been the target of President Rafael Correa's wrath as the president has sued journalists for defamation, and most recently ordered cabinet members to refuse to grant interviews with private, independent press. One of the owners of the Ecuadoran newspaper El Universo, Carlos Pérez Barriga, who faced prison for libel, was offered asylum in Panama.
Of the exiled journalists, 23 percent continue to work as journalists while in exile, and about 11 percent were able to return home, CPJ said.
CPJ has been tracking exiled journalists since 2007. Cuba ranks as No. 7 overall for top countries from which journalists flee, as 19 journalists have been exiled from Cuba since 2007.
The number of journalists who went into exile during the past year decreased to 57 from 67 the previous 12-month period, CPJ said.
Meanwhile, also in conjunction with World Refugee Day, Reporters Without Borders reported that 80 journalists fled their home countries in 2011. The group called on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres to "ensure that refugee journalists and human rights activists get better access to appropriate individual protection, to the emergency resettlement process and to the UN’s mechanism for temporary evacuation to a safe third country."
Reporters Without Borders also released an updated guide to help journalists who are forced into exile.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
