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Countries pledge to protect journalists

GENEVA - Seven countries including the United States and Britain have joined in a new move to ensure the safety of journalists in war zones, the International Red Cross said.

France, Germany, Australia, Canada and Denmark also committed themselves to accept a new nonbinding accord on protecting correspondents in line with the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of warfare, Carla Haddad, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said Friday.

Media rights campaigners cautiously welcomed the pledge at a meeting of the 194 signatories of the Geneva Conventions but said its effectiveness would be measured by what the countries did in practice.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which oversees compliance with the conventions, proposed the pledge as a way of strengthening protection of journalists, whose rights are already guaranteed in sections of the 1949 treaty on the rules of war.

John Bellinger III, the State Department's legal adviser, said, "The United States is absolutely committed to protection of journalists in conflict zones."

But Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "Our primary concern is that these legal principles are not respected in practice."

He said research by the New York group found that U.S. military forces have been responsible for the deaths of 16 journalists in Iraq.

"While we have not found any of these incidents to be deliberate attacks on the press, none have been fully investigated," Simon said.

Thus far this year, at least 60 journalists have been killed on the job, compared with 56 during all of last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The group said that after Iraq, the deadliest countries for journalists are Algeria, Russia, Colombia and the Philippines.

[Last modified December 2, 2007, 01:36:34]