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Director-General Calls for Justice following the Murder of Brazilian Journalist Eduardo Carvalho


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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today called for an investigation into the shooting of Brazilian web journalist Eduardo Carvalho last month and urged efforts to improve safety of journalists in the country.

“I condemn the murder of Eduardo Carvalho,” the Director-General said. “It is essential for good governance that journalists be allowed to carry out their professional duty, which is to inform social debate. Those who use violence against the media must be prosecuted in the interest of democracy and rule of law.”

Eduardo Carvalho, owner and editor of the Ultima Hora News website, was gunned down in Campo Grande, the capital of the southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, on 21 November. The 52-year-old retired police officer, who wrote critical articles about local issues, is reported to have escaped a previous attempt on his life. He is also said to have received numerous death threats in recent times.

This murder brings to five the number of journalists killed in Brazil this year. All are remembered on the dedicated page UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

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UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”



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