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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova has called for an investigation into the murder of a Swedish radio journalist, Nils Horner, in the capital of Afghanistan on 11 March.

“I condemn the murder of Nils Horner,” the Director-General said. “I call on the authorities to investigate this crime and bring the culprits to justice. Media workers must be able to carry out their work and keep society informed. They nurture informed public debate which is essential in carrying out the reconstruction that Afghanistan is striving to achieve.”

Nils Horner was a Hong Kong-based foreign correspondent for Sweden’s national public radio, Sveriges Radio. A dual British and Swedish national, Horner arrived in Kabul a few days before he was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the diplomatic district of Kabul on 11 March.

Nils Horner is the 3^rd journalist in Afghanistan whose killing has been condemned by the Director-General in 2014.

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)unesco.org,  +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”