The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) renewed its call on the international community for concrete action to protect the safety and freedoms of journalists as it recorded a spike in the numbers of journalists killed or imprisoned during 2022.

The vote on the IFJ Convention on the Safety and Independence of Journalists by the UN General Assembly has become urgent.

The IFJ released the latest figures ahead of International Human Rights Day, recording 67 killings of journalists and media staff in the line of duty in 2022 compared to 47 last year - a reversal of the decline recorded in recent years.

The war in Ukraine accounts for 12 media fatalities, the highest number in the 21 countries where deadly incidents have been recorded. But the rule by terror of criminal organisations in Mexico, and the breakdown of law and order in Haiti, have also contributed to the surge in killings, with 11 and 6 documented respectively.

Journalists in Colombia face renewed violence, threatening to make the country a killing zone for journalists and media workers once again and shattering the prospects for media freedom following the political settlement to end decades of bloody civil war.

In Asia Pacific, the new leadership in the Philippines brought no respite to deadly attacks on journalists with 4 killings in the first year of Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr’s presidency, while 5 journalists lost their lives in the political crisis in Pakistan.

The Middle East and Arab World saw the killings of media professionals rise from 3 last year to 5, including the shooting in broad daylight of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Four journalists were killed in Chad and Somalia, meaning Africa recorded the lowest number of deaths among the five regions on the IFJ’s Killed List list, behind the Americas (29), Asia Pacific (15), Europe (14) and the Middle East and Arab World (5).