Opinion Editorial #EndImpunity, #TruthNeverDies- Just hashtags or action points?

As reporters from Sky News, a British television news network, walk through the streets of Hodeidah, the Yemeni city struck by 100 airstrikes this weekend, they come across a group of people who eat leaves just for the sake of not dying of hunger.

According to the latest report published by Sky News, as many as 400,000 children in the war-torn country of Yemen are at the risk of dying from severe malnutrition.

Yemen, and many other countries such as Qatar, Lebanon and even Canada, have been put under the media spotlight because of their relations with Saudi Arabia. They continue to face those disputes that the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had brought forward in his reports. On the other hand, his hopes regarding the Arab world press freedom or gender equality can never be misconstrued and are to stay in people’s minds for years to come.

His death has provoked communities and organizations all over the world not because of the brutality involved, but because it happened during a phase when crimes against journalists go widely unpunished.

According to a report by UNESCO, in the past 12 years (2006-2017), close to 1010 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public. This puts the judicial system in an ironic situation as it should take serious action against the culprits but when the time comes, officials become conspicuously tight-lipped.

On the other hand, UNESCO recognizes this cause and is concerned about how impunity has rifted critical issues such as human rights, political corruption and crime on a global scale.

As a result, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2013, where it proclaimed November 2 as the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists'.

Their recent campaign #TruthNeverDies launched on October 26 this year in association with the advertising agency, DDB Paris has taken social media by a storm during the recent weeks. Various international organizations, committees and even fellow journalists have taken it to Twitter to demonstrate the seriousness of this issue.

United Nations posted a video on November 2 featuring Secretary-General Antonio Guterres where he paid a tribute to journalists for their indispensable work.

The tweet said: "Reporting is not a crime. Together, let's stand up for journalists, for truth and for justice." -- @antonioguterres on Friday's Intl Day to #EndImpunity for Crimes against Journalists. #TruthNeverDies

Tom Harrington, the well-known CBC Journalist and Anchor tweeted: My father was a journalist, my brother was a journalist, my sister was a journalist. I am a journalist. It is an honourable profession, overwhelmingly populated by honourable people. If journalists don't tell you, who will? #EndImpunity

It’s not Khashoggi’s death that has sparked up this issue on a new level but there have been many other hard-working journalists and reporters who created a legacy through their exceptional news stories and deserve a tribute. After all, killing these people may hide the truth but the perpetrators should know that truth is always undeniable and will be out in the open sooner or later. Such cases hamper freedom of expression and also questions the need for us to rise as a society.

While the system of law may seem to become ruthless amidst all of this, but with the increase in awareness among communities; there is a hope that justice will be served.

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This is an opinion piece on #EndImpunity, the social media trend after the death of the eminent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.