13 countries where you can get away with murdering journalists

This is a grim statistic, particularly if you work in the media. 

Murder is the No. 1 cause of work-related deaths among journalists, accounting for nearly 70 percent of on-the-job fatalities, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

But it gets worse.

In many cases the perpetrators walk free. No arrest. No conviction. No jail time. They are literally getting away with murder. 

The CPJ’s recently released 2014 Global Impunity Index ranks countries based on the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of the country's population.

The New York-based organization looked at journalist murders in every country from 2004 through 2013 and only included those countries with five or more unsolved cases.

Journalists killed in wars, protests or on other types of dangerous assignments were not counted.

This year 13 countries made the cut, one more than last year. Here they are in order of worst to slightly less worse.

Iraq: 100 unsolved murders

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It's an unenviable record: 100 journalist murders and zero convictions in the past decade. Little wonder then that Iraq has topped CPJ's index every year since it launched in 2008. After a brief respite in 2012, the first year since the US-led invasion that no journalists were murdered, the situation is deteriorating once again. Ten journalists were killed last year amid a resurgence in militant violence, including nine murders.

Somalia: 26 unsolved murders

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Somalia has ranked No. 2 on the index for the past five years. Four journalists were murdered in 2013, bringing to 27 the number of targeted killings of members of the media since 2005. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud promised in November 2012 to set up a special task force to investigate the murders and identify the perpetrators, but so far there has been little progress — just one conviction.

The Philippines: 51 unsolved murders

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The Philippines has held the third worst spot on the index since 2010. Three journalists were gunned down last year, including freelance photographer Mario Sy, who was shot dead in front of his wife and daughter, taking to 51 the number of unsolved journalist murders since 2004. The 2013 conviction of the gunman who shot dead broadcast journalist Gerardo Ortega in 2011 was a “welcome development but did little to change the rampant impunity” in the country, CPJ said.

Sri Lanka: 9 unsolved murders

Here’s some good news. In the nearly five years since the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war between the country's military and the Tamil Tigers there have been no new recorded murders of journalists. The bad news is there’s also been no progress in resolving the nine targeted journalist killings in the final years of the war. Government and military officials are suspected of involvement in several of the cases, CPJ said.

Syria: 7 unsolved murders

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Already the world’s most dangerous place to be a journalist, Syria now ranks among the worst countries for securing convictions of journalist killers as well. The war-ravaged country joined the index for the first time this year following the murders of at least seven journalists since 2012, all carried out with impunity. 

Afghanistan: 5 unsolved murders

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Incredibly, no journalists were reported murdered in Afghanistan from 2009 through 2013, CPJ said. Yet the country holds its sixth-place ranking because the perpetrators of five targeted killings carried out in the four years prior to 2009 still haven't been brought to justice. Sadly, Afghanistan might find itself higher up the index in 2015 after a spate of journalist killings in the lead up to elections earlier this month. 

Mexico: 16 unsolved murders

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Reporting on crime and corruption is a dangerous job in Mexico, where 16 journalists have been murdered with impunity in the past decade. There's hope that new laws introduced last year will give federal authorities — who are perceived as being less corrupt than their state-level colleagues — broader jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes against the media. But so far the special prosecutors has made little progress, CPJ said. 

Colombia: 6 unsolved murders

Colombia, once one of the deadliest countries in the world for the media, moved from the fifth to the eighth spot on the index this year. But CPJ said the improvement was due to a drop in journalist killings in recent years, rather than a pick up in convictions. The murder of radio announcer Edison Alberto Molina in 2013 broke a three-year hiatus in journalist murders and took to six the number of unsolved cases in the past decade.

Pakistan: 22 unsolved murders

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Pakistan dropped one place in the index this year following the conviction of six men for the 2011 murder of Pakistani television journalist Wali Khan Babar. Two suspects are still at large. CPJ is hopeful that the case, in which several witnesses, informants and investigators were also murdered, could lead to prosecutions in the other 22 unsolved journalist murders.

Russia: 14 unsolved murders

There was some progress in Russia with the conviction and sentencing of a businessman over the murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Igor Domnikov in 2000. Yet the perpetrators of another 14 murders in the country over the past decade remain free.

Brazil: 9 unsolved murders

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Brazil dropped one spot in the index following convictions in three murders, including the mastermind in one of the cases — a rare event, CPJ noted. But progress was undermined by three new murders in 2013. Brazil’s government has promised to address the high rate of unsolved murders and has proposed legislation that would give federal police the right to investigate crimes against journalists where local authorities fail. “How fully these will be adopted and implemented over the next year will be a litmus test for the government’s political will to up the fight for justice beyond rhetoric,” CPJ said.

Nigeria: 5 unsolved murders

Since 2009, five Nigerian journalists have been murdered and not a single assailant has been put behind bars. And there appears to be little political will to tackle the worsening situation. A spokesman for President Goodluck Jonathan told one newspaper that the CPJ survey "promotes sensationalism, rather than the truth" and is "not a true reflection of journalists in the country," CPJ said.

India: 7 unsolved murders

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Two journalists were murdered in India last year, taking to seven the number of unresolved killings in the world’s largest democracy over the past decade. The seven journalists slain were all working for local print publications and reporting on corruption, politics or crime, CPJ said.