International Workers’ Memorial Day 2022
The NUJ’s health and safety committee is urging members not to forget International Workers’ Memorial Day on Thursday 28 April – and journalists who have given their lives doing their jobs.
Twenty-one journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide so far this year, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The IFJ's online year-by-year and country-by-country record also shows that, since March 1, six journalists have been killed in Ukraine. They are:
- Maks Levin, 40, a prominent Ukrainian freelance photojournalist, was found dead on April 1 after being missing for two weeks while documenting the Russian invasion near Kyiv.
- Russian investigative journalist Oksana Baulina was killed when Russian troops shelled a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv on March 23.
- Fox News camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian producer and fixer Oleksandra Kuvshynova, also known as Sasha, were killed while reporting from Horenka, a city close to Kyiv. Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was seriously injured in the same attack on March 14.
- Award-winning US journalist Brent Renaud was shot dead in Irpin, outside Kyiv on March 13. Ukrainian police said he had been targeted by Russian soldiers. Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital.
- Yevhenii Sakun, 49, a correspondent and camera operator for Ukrainian television channel LIVE was killed when a transmitter was shelled on March 1.
Since IWMD 2021, more than 30 journalists have died in 14 countries.
Adam Christie, NUJ health and safety committee chair, said:
"In the past, chapels have called on members to observe a minute's silence at, or as near to 11am as possible, to remember those have been lost. Some have read out the names on the IFJ website or posted lists of their names on noticeboards or social media.
"Some of the dead were killed in targeted attacks, some by bombs and others in crossfire. The deaths of six journalists in Tanzania in January were recorded as accidental killings.
"While International Workers' Memorial Day provides an occasion to remember and commemorate colleagues we have lost, we should not forget those who have been injured and harmed while working in journalism, including those whose mental health has been seriously affected, whether in witnessing or experiencing violence or by online threats and abuse."
Members can support in-person and online events being organised by unions around the world. Members and branches can also donate to the IFJ safety fund which is supporting journalists in the Ukraine and around the world.
