Paris.- The secretary general of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Christophe Deloire, died this Saturday at 53 years of a fulminant cancer“, announced the organization defending press freedom.
Deloire, who had been in office since 2012, transformed the organization “into a champion of defense of journalism, for twelve years“, indicated the NGO in a statement transmitted to AFP.
He was “a relentless defender, on all continents, of the freedom, independence and pluralism of journalismin a context of information chaos,” he added.
“Journalism was the fight of his life, in which he pursued it with unwavering conviction,” said the Paris-based NGO.
RSFfounded by four journalists in 1985 in Montpellierin the south of France, became a reference for defense of press freedom and the right to inform in the world.
The organization detects and reports obstacles to freedom of information and comes to the aid of the journalists imprisoned or threatened in various ways (legal assistance, loan of bulletproof vests, subsidies, pressure on governments and institutions).
Since 2002, the NGO has published an annual report on abuses committed against journalists in 180 countries, called the “world press freedom ranking.”
Deloire, who directed one of the great journalism schools in Paris and worked for years in local media, demanded among others the truth about the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, and denounced the continued attacks on press freedom in Russia.
RSF described the Russian president, Vladimir Putinand his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoganof “predators” of press freedom.
Deloire also often warned against increasing violence towards journalists.
