Fighting Impunity: Frontline Stories

When fighting impunity, what strategies work? What are the main challenges? IFEX put these questions to our members. They answered. These multimedia projects explore tactics they have used and the lessons they have learned in combating impunity. We hope what you find here will be of use in your own work and context.

"What violence took away": A snapshot of impunity in Colombia

Foundation for Press Freedom

  Julio Daniel Chaparro, a journalist for the daily El Espectador, was assassinated on 24 April 1991. In 2011, the statute of limitations for prosecuting his case ran out before the case could be solved. Chaparro is one of 139 journalists in Colombia has who died because of their work, and to whom the justice system still owes a response.

  "What violence took away" is a multimedia presentation by FLIP that highlights issues of impunity in the 139 cases of assassinations of journalists in Colombia in the last few decades. Chaparro's case is featured in the multimedia presentation as a representation of the silence and impunity that weighs upon journalists as they carry out their work today. More >

A United Front in Fighting Impunity in the Philippines

Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
The Philippines has been ranked among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists and media practitioners. They have been harassed, threatened and killed. On 23 November 2009, 32 journalists and media workers were among 58 killed in a massacre allegedly perpetrated by members of a powerful political clan in Maguindanao province in the island of Mindanao.

The brutal attack challenged the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Inc. and other media organisations to act quickly and mobilise a Quick Response Team (QRT) that included members of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Davao-based MindaNews. View CMFR's video to learn more about the QRT's success and the impact it had on addressing impunity.

Give Kashin an Answer: The importance of prevention and protection in combating impunity

Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations

The attack on Russian journalist Oleg Kashin was a test of strength for the entire journalistic community. His colleagues and friends, and hard-working reporters, were all very vocal in his case. His attack was perceived as a personal insult and their outrage forced high-level politicians to respond to this violent assault on Kashin. However, a year later there is still no response from the authorities. Who organized the attack?

In this frontline story, CJES focuses on Kashin's case to highlight the importance of journalistic solidarity and the need for maintaining pressure on the authorities to protect journalists and prevent impunity.

The Chauncey Bailey Project: Colleagues Banding against Impunity

Committee to Protect Journalists
Editor Chauncey Bailey was shot to death in a California street on 2 August 2007. Bailey was the first journalist to be murdered in the United States in 14 years. Days after his death, a man working for a local business Bailey had been investigating was arrested for the murder, but journalists close to Bailey were not immediately convinced. They believed authorities had failed to cover all angles of the investigation.

Determined to find justice, a group of journalists from the San Francisco area banded together in the weeks that followed Bailey's murder, and formed an ad hoc investigative unit to monitoring the police investigation and pursue their own. Find out more about how the Chauncey Bailey Project brought his case to justice in a video by the Committee to Protect Journalists. More >