Femicide investigation wins Breach-Valdez journalism prize
An investigation about survivors of attempted femicide on Thursday (May 13 Philippine time) won a prize honoring two journalists killed in 2017 in Mexico, on course for one of its deadliest years yet for the press.
Journalist Gloria Pina and her team received the journalism and human rights award for their report "The survivors forgotten by justice," published by the Connectas platform and media including Animal Politico y Proceso.
The article highlights that only 781 of 1.7 million violent attacks against women in the past eight years were prosecuted as attempted femicide, rather than domestic violence or other crimes.
"They are women who live in situations of extreme violence, who do not die but who are at constant risk of being killed," Pina told AFP.
The runners-up were Wendy Selene Perez and Paula Monaco Felipe for their article in news magazine Gatopardo on women working in forensic medicine entitled "Looking at our death. Being a woman expert in Mexico."
Around 10 women are murdered every day in Mexico, according to official figures.
"One part of our work as journalists is to find ways to shake ourselves up, so that this (the killing) doesn't become normal," said Monaco Felipe.
"They're the same women who are at risk of being murdered who are trying to reveal what's happening—how and why we're being killed," she added.
Launched in 2018, the prize honors journalists who risk their lives to cover human rights abuses in Mexico, following in the footsteps of two acclaimed Mexican colleagues murdered in 2017: Miroslava Breach and Javier Valdez.
The award's sponsors include the United Nations, Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French and Swiss embassies in Mexico, and the Ibero-American University.
Breach, a 54-year-old correspondent for Mexican daily La Jornada in the northern border state of Chihuahua, was known for her hard-hitting reports on links between politicians and organized crime.
Long-time AFP collaborator Valdez, 50, was a prominent chronicler of Mexico's deadly drug wars known for writing articles critical of powerful gangs such as notorious kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.
The two journalists "have all our respect, all our admiration, all our gratitude. It is very flattering to receive an award that bears their name," said Selene Perez.
Eleven reporters have been murdered already this year in Mexico, one of the world's most dangerous countries for the media, prompting calls from rights groups for authorities to end a culture of impunity. (AFP)