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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the killing of journalist Abdullah Azizan who died in the municipality of Bayhan, Yemen, on 29 May.

“I condemn the killing of Abdullah Azizan,” the Director-General said. “It is essential that all parties in Yemen heed their legal obligation to protect media workers, in keeping with the Geneva Conventions and last year’s UN Security Council Resolution 2222.”

Azizan, a correspondent for the online news website Ma’reb Press, was killed while covering clashes between armed groups. 

The Director-General of UNESCO issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States at the Organization’s General Conference of 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.” These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage,

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”