Weekly Perspective

 

  The names of the 65 journalists who are currently missing globally, according to CPJ’s research. (CPJ/Daria Locher) August 30 marked the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, with CPJ documenting at least  65 journalists missing  globally. Official indifference and failure to investigate these disappearances cast a chill on other reporters and devastate the journalists’ families, who are often left in the dark with little to no support.     Mexican journalist  Jorge Molontzín Centlal  vanished in 2021 in Mexico, the country with the highest number of missing journalists globally—16.   Nearly one in four documented missing journalists disappeared in Iraq and Syria between 2012 and 2014. Some have been missing longer:  Isam al-Shumari , an Iraqi camera operator for Sudost Media, went missing in Fallujah, Iraq, on August 15, 2004. It was the same day his friend and colleague, camera operator  Mahmoud Abbas , was killed while on assignment for German station ZDF.   Jou