News
Director-General condemns murder of Salvadoran cameraman Carlos José Orellana
Paris, 21 August 2014 —The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today deplored the killing of Carlos José Orellana, in the town of Santiago de Maria in El Salvador.
“I condemn the killing of Carlos José Orellana,” the Director-General said. “I trust that the authorities will investigate this crime and do all they can to make sure that El Salvador remains a safe place for free and pluralistic media.”
Carlos José Orellana, 23, a cameraman for local TV station Canal 99, was stabbed near his home in the town of Santiago de María on 12 July.
The Director-General issues statements on the killing of media professionals 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,
Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 1 45 68 08 91
****
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…”
