Edison Lanza, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, speaks next to David Kaye, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, duringMEXICO CITY - 5 December 2017: The United Nations said on Monday the Mexican government is struggling to keep journalists safe and prosecute their oppressors, after officials toured regions of the country that are among the most dangerous in the world for reporters.Mexican federal prosecutors have yet to secure any convictions for crimes against reporters due to ineffective probes and scant resources, said the U.N.'s special rapporteur for freedom of expression, David Kaye, and his counterpart from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Edison Lanza.They released a preliminary report describing a "profound crisis of safety" after a week-long tour of Mexico City and the violent states of Veracruz, Guerrero, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa, and plan to release detailed recommendations in the spring. "Past prosecutors didn't have the same political will to actually get the job done," said Kaye, expressing cautious hope that current prosecutors will do more to address the problem. "There's a bit more attention to getting this done right. "Until that happens, there will be very little prevention, and very little ending of this cycle of violence," Kaye said.He and Lanza also said Mexico's government must devote more funding and staff to a journalist protection program launched in 2012, taking measures such as daily monitoring of the situation in states where reporters are most at risk, and helping them to continue to work if they are forced to leave their homes. "It has an amount of money that's absurdly insufficient for the emergency that it's facing," Lanza said.

Source: Egypt Today December 05, 2017 06:00 UTC