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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today condemned the murder of Brazilian radio journalist Gleydson Carvalho, who was shot on 6 August in the city of Camocim in Brazil’s northeastern state of Cear.

“I condemn the killing of Gleydson Carvalho,” the Director-General said. “Journalists are the voices of the people and when violence is used to silence one of them, society as a whole suffers. I call on the authorities to investigate this crime and bring its perpetrators to court to be punished in keeping with Brazil’s legal provisions.”

Calvalho often reported on local politics in his programme on Radio Liberdade FM. He was shot while on-the-air and died on the way to hospital.

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…”