SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Journalists’ Syndicate said on Wednesday it recorded 79 cases of violations against journalists and media outlets in the Kurdistan Region, warning against a surge in cases of sexual harassment against female journalists.
The syndicate released its annual report on violations against journalists and media outlets in the Kurdistan Region in 2021.
The violations were carried out against 187 journalists and media outlets, the KJS’ report said.
There were 17 cases of detention, 31 cases of prevention and discrimination, 22 cases of insults and attacks, four cases of beating, and two cases of threatening, it added.
Three cases of closing channels and offices were also recorded, the syndicate said.
Thirty-three cases were recorded in Erbil and 22 more cases were registered in Sulaimani, the KJS said. There were three cases in Duhok, one case in Halabja, 17 cases in Kirkuk, one case in Khanaqin and four others in the Kurdish areas in northeast Syria.
“Violations against female journalists, particularly sexual harassment, increased,” in the Kurdistan Region last year, the syndicate said.
Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, ranks 163 out of 180 on Reporters’ Without Borders’ 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
On December 28, the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association said it recorded at least 250 attacks against journalists in 2021.
In January, the Iraqi Journalists’ Syndicate said as many as 475 journalists had been killed in Iraq since 2003.
