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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has condemned the killing of Carlos Fernández, on the Island of Roatán, off the Atlantic coast of Honduras.

“I condemn the murder of Carlos Fernandez and urge the authorities to spare no effort in bringing the perpetrators of this crime to justice," said the Director-General.

Carlos Fernández was shot on 5 February. He was a journalist and presenter at Canal27where he hosted a news programme, and was an active member of the Alert Network for the Protection of Journalists and Social Communicators (Red de Alertas y Protección a Periodistas y Comunicadores Sociales, RAPCOS).

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…”