11 August 2008
IFJ Calls for "Safe Space" for Media after Two Georgian Journalists Killed in South Ossetia
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on Russian, Georgian and any other combat forces involved in the conflict in the region to respect the rights of media and protect their safety after it received reports that two journalists were killed and at least two others wounded in South Ossetia.
Georgian Alexander Klimchuk, a photojournalist working for Russian news agency Itar-Tass, and Grigol Chikhladze, a reporter for Russian Newsweek, were reportedly killed while covering fighting between the Russian and Georgian forces in the separatist region. Two other journalists travelling in the same car, Teymuraz Kikuradze and Winston Federly, were wounded. Other media reports have said that at least eight journalists have been injured while covering the conflict.
"This is tragic news and we mourn the loss of our colleagues," said IFJ Deputy General Secretary Paco Audije. "We call on all combatants to remember that journalists are considered civilians and it is illegal to target them under international law. They should have a safe space that lets the report on armed conflict without being turned into targets."
According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1738, media workers are classified as civilians in armed conflict and targeting journalists is considered a war crime.
The IFJ is calling on both armies to launch an investigation into the killings.
"If our colleagues were targeted in any way, those responsible must be held accountable," Audije said.
The IFJ is also concerned about the safety of two Russian journalists who have not been heard from for at least two days.
Expert Magazine's editor-in-chief V.A. Fadeev said in a statement that staff member Vyacheslav V. Kochetkov and Igor V. Naidenov, a reporter for the Russian Reporter magazine, have not been heard from since they crossed the border into Georgia on Saturday. Fadeev said there was concern the journalists have been detained and asked for help in locating them.
The International News Safety Institute has put together a safety alert for journalists in the region that it plans to update regularly. You can find it here: http://www.newssafety.com/stories/insi/georgia110808.htm
For more information contact the IFJ at +32 2 235 2207
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide
Comments :
Artur Aghajanyan
14 August 2008 at 10:25
Серия EuroOrient Georgia: Ethnic cleansing of the Ossetians Georgia: Ethnic cleansing of the Ossetians Inga Kochieva Foreword by A.Ch.Kasaev Moscow, Europe Publishing House, 2006, pp 168 You are holding the «White book» of ethnic cleansing of the Ossetian people by Georgia. The conflict has been smoldering for a long time. In 1830, the Russian government made a clear verdict with regard to the matter: the Georgians do not have any rights to South Ossetia. Stalin, in his usual manner of laying down time bombs on borders between neighboring peoples, sacrificed the Ossetians in favor of the Georgian SSR. In 1938, the Ossetian alphabet was replaced with the Georgian script. Since 1949, the entire education in Ossetian schools, including primary school forms, was converted to Georgian. The attack on the language was followed by an attack on the people. In 1991, the skirmish between Gorbachev and Yeltsin kept Moscow unaware of what was going on in the South. There was no one to stop Zviad Gamsahurdia. According to the 1989 USSR population census, there were 164 thousand Ossetians living in Georgia. By the year 2002, only 38 thousand Ossetians remained there.
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