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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today urged the Brazilian authorities to investigate the killing of João Valdecir de Borba on 10 March in the town of São Jorge do Oeste, in the southern State of Paraná, Brazil.

“I condemn the murder of João Valdecir de Borba,” the Director-General said. “I trust that the authorities will investigate this crime swiftly and bring its perpetrators to trial. This deliberate attack on a journalist in the exercise of his professional duties affects all media workers and their ability to carry out their essential work.”

Two unidentified men shot João Valdecir de Borba as he was presenting a live music programme on Radio Difusora AM.

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…”