In a message marking world press freedom day, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on all governments to reaffirm their commitment to press freedom as stated in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In particular, Annan lamented the number of reporters who have died in recent years. “It is tragic and unacceptable that the number of journalists killed in the line of duty has become a barometer for measuring press freedom,” he said. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 47 journalists were killed in 2005, and 11 have already been killed in 2006.
