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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova today deplored the killing of Mexican journalist Moisés Sánchez Cerezo, found dead on 24 January, three weeks after he had been kidnapped.

“I condemn the assassination of Moisés Sánchez Cerezo,” declared the Director-General. “His killing is an unacceptable attack on journalism, a profession that embodies the right of freedom of expression, which is indispensable to democracy. I call on the Mexican authorities to shed light on this crime and bring its perpetrators to justice.”

Moisés Sánchez Cerezo was abducted from his home on 2 January by armed men who took away his computer, camera and mobile phone. He was the owner and editor of a weekly magazine La Unión in which he denounced insecurity in Medellin de Bravo.

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, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

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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…”