Libya ranks 143rd in world press freedom index
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Libya is ranked 143rd out of 180 countries in the 2024 press freedom index, according to the annual report drawn up by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Libya has moved up six places since 2023, when it ranked 149th. This year, it is ranked 5th in North Africa, behind Algeria, but ahead of Egypt, which is 170th in the world.
In the 2024 report on press freedom published on Friday by RFS to mark World Press Freedom Day, under the title "World Press Freedom Ranking 2024: Journalism under political pressure", Libya is ranked 10th among Arab countries.
According to the document, Mauritania ranks 33rd in North Africa, followed by Tunisia, 118th; Algeria, 139th; Libya, 143rd; and Egypt, 170th.
Reporters Without Borders noted that Libya has not recorded any arrests of journalists, kidnappings or murders during the year.
However, the situation in Libya remains worrying because "the country has been mired in a deep crisis since the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011", with "media and journalists often forced to serve one of the parties to the conflict, to the detriment of editorial independence".
In its report, RSF notes that, at international level, "this year has been marked by a clear lack of political will on the part of the international community to enforce the principles of protection of journalists, and in particular UN Security Council Resolution 2222".
The war in Gaza has been marked by a record number of abuses committed against journalists and the media since October 2023: more than 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed by the Israeli army, including at least 22 in the course of their duties, according to the journalists' defence organization.
In RSF's 2024 ranking, Palestine (157th), occupied and under Israeli bombs, became one of the world's ten worst countries in terms of safety for journalists.
The Maghreb - Middle East region is the one where the situation is the most serious in the 2024 Press Freedom Index, acknowledged RSF, which points out that "next comes the Asia-Pacific region, where journalism is suffocating under the weight of authoritarian regimes, while in Africa, although less than 10% of the area is in a "very serious" situation, nearly half the countries are in a "difficult" situation.
Sub-Saharan Africa was badly affected in 2023 by political violence during major elections, acknowledged RSF, adding that more than 8% of African countries are now in the red, twice as many as in 2023.
In her view, Nigeria, Togo and Madagascar have been hit by waves of repression of reporters at a time when the region is marked by a deterioration in security in several Sahel countries - Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.
-0- PANA BY/JSG/BBA/RA 4May2024
