A Global Remembrance of Journalists' Massacre in the Philippines Nov. 23

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines  (NUJP), are calling on journalists, media workers, their friends and colleagues to prepare for a Global Day of Action on November 23 to mark the one-year anniversary of the world’s single biggest atrocity perpetrated against journalists.

On November 23, 2009, 32 journalists and media workers were brutally murdered in a massacre of at least 57 people in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao, in the southern Philippines.

A total of 196 suspects, mostly police and members of local militias, are facing trial for the Maguindanao massacre.  In addition, at least 75 journalists and media workers have been killed over the past eight years, according to the NUJ, mostly by hired killers in targeted attacks. Outside of Iraq, the Philippines has recorded the most killings of media personnel in this century.

The IFJ and many other international organisations are coordinating global activities, including online Facebook and Twitter protests, while the NUJP and its local partners in the Philippines plan an intense program of events throughout the Philippines in the lead-up to the November 23 remembrance.

IFJ Asia-Pacific will join the NUJP in the Philippines for an international mission in the week of November 23 to provide solidarity to the families and colleagues of those murdered, to support the NUJP, and to demand an end to the culture of impunity that has gripped the Philippines.

More information about the event and its sponsors organizing efforts can be found at the IFJ website.