VOA标准英语2012--UN says Journalists Need Greater Protection

 

UN says Journalists Need Greater Protection

Reporting, risky¹ business

American war correspondent, Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed in Syria on February 22.

They are among 65 journalists killed in the first five months of 2012. According to the Swiss news agency ATS this is 50 percent more than last year. At least 15 of the victims were in Syria, seven in Mexico and six in Somalia.

The latest report from Reporters Without Borders says 163 journalists are imprisoned³ in 2012.

"If we look at the record so far this year, it seems to be that both on the level of imprisonment⁴ of journalists and in terms of the lives lost of journalists that we are indeed facing a serious problem," said Christof Heyns, U.N. Special Investigator⁵ on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions.

Protecting journalists

This year, Heyns focused his annual report on the protection of the right to life of journalists.

"It is also clear from looking at the statistics that one may have the picture of the most common threat to journalists is the foreign journalist who is killed in armed conflict … But two-thirds of the deaths are outside of armed conflict and a typical situation is the local journalist who is killed, who works for a radio station, who works for a newspaper, and increasingly also the Internet and others as well," he said. 

U.N. Special Investigator on Freedom of Expression Frank La Rue⁶ says there has to be a commitment to investigate and prosecute⁷ those who attack, kill, and imprison² journalists. "I do believe there should be in a specific level of crimes defined as persecution⁸ or acts of violence against journalists. This for me is very important because this would guarantee in a better way the protection of journalists," La Rue stated. "There are journalists who are in grave danger in non-conflict situations, but in situations of extreme violence like organized crime or authoritarian⁹ regimes." 

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports almost half of the 179 journalists imprisoned in 2011, were bloggers whose work appears online. "I am from Azerbaijan. We have a case, you know we just had a Eurovision song contest, which was watched by more than 120-million people around the world and a very small community of journalism¹⁰ activists¹¹ tried to draw attention to human-rights violations¹² in Azerbaijan," explained Emin Milli.

Milli is a blogger, a dissident and former Amnesty International prisoner-of-conscience who was imprisoned for 16 months in Azerbaijan. He says now that the Eurovision Song Contest is gone the attention of the international media is gone. "And as predicted, the government started to target the activists and journalists," he said. "So what we have is the media coordinator¹³ of "Sing for Democracy" campaign, Mehman Huseynov has been targeted and he has been arrested and released on bail¹⁴, but his charges are not dropped." 

Upholding media freedom

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic advises the 56 OSCE members on upholding media freedom. She says this sometimes involves naming, shaming and blaming countries when they do not live up to their commitments to protect journalists. 

"Nothing in relation to violence against journalists should be done in a quiet diplomacy¹⁵. If somebody is harassed¹⁶ or intimidated¹⁷ or put behind bars, not to mention killed, is a matter that all of us should be aware of," she said. "It is something, which is in the public interest." 

Expert on Summary Executions Heyns notes international laws regarding protection for journalists already exist. Governments just have to implement¹⁸ them. "I think one of the dangers of a new legally binding¹⁹ instrument is ... that one could have all kinds of issues such as registration²⁰ and new limitations being discussed as well ... and if one spends too much time on negotiating a new binding instrument, one may take the eye off the implementation," he said. 

All U.N. agencies have adopted a plan of action proposed by UNESCO on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity²¹. How to integrate the protection of journalists into development programs is to be discussed in November at an international meeting in Vienna.

Human Rights experts say journalists put themselves in danger by investigating governments, large companies and organized crime. But they note these dangers are increased when governments fail to protect those who put their lives on the line to expose corruption²².

1 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

2 imprison   

vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚

参考例句：

• The effect of this one is going to imprison you for life.而这件事的影响力则会让你被终身监禁。
• Dutch colonial authorities imprisoned him for his part in the independence movement.荷兰殖民当局因他参加独立运动而把他关押了起来。

3 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

4 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

5 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

6 rue   

n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔

参考例句：

• You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
• You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。

7 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

8 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

9 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

10 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

13 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

14 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

15 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

16 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

17 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

19 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

20 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

21 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

22 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。