219 Chema Suárez Serrano Journalism in the armed conflict of the 21st century:... In this situation, it is also reporters who suffer more than ever before because of the violence of war. The UN Security Council35 recalls that the issue of the protection of journalists in armed conflict has stalled, without any significant progress, indicating a sorry protracted existence that has lasted for decades. Attacks against the independence and integrity of journalists have reached untenable levels, exacerbated by the impunity of their assailants. In less than 10 per cent of these cases are they investigated or the perpetrators brought to justice, and, of those cases, only 5 per cent result in conviction according to the tally taken by the Security Council,36 which here draws attention to the severity of conflicts with the presence of non-state actors and terrorists, where the most unspeakable crimes and abuses are perpetrated, and which currently represent a more serious risk to journalists. We can state, without a shadow of a doubt, that reporters are the professional group that pays the heaviest price, as part of a spiral of violence with no solution in sight. In other words, the rate of casualties seen in current armed conflicts indicates that the life of a journalist is more at risk than that of a soldier. The same applies to the so-called citizen journalists who make up a considerable share of reporting with high-quality messages that are disseminated widely due to their newsworthiness. Professional organisations openly recognise the importance of this trend and see these journalists as an emerging group of non-professional reporters, although they are subject to the same threats as those who are. Reporters Without Borders37 has in-cluded this sector in its statistics on casualties since 2011, and the UN Special Rapporteur for promoting the right to freedom of expression has pointed out, since they too under-take the same activity, that citizens who disseminate accurate information deserve to be afforded the same protection as professionals.38 This technological revolution is fostering this new approach that de-professionalises journalism and allows anonymous citizens to access a profession that until very recently was out of their reach. One serious aspect of this situation is that we all become potential victims as we exercise our right to free expression with messages delivered through the real or vir-tual world. Attacks against those who defend the truth do not draw a line between times of peace or of war, neither do they distinguish between professional and citizen journalists or even the channel utilised to convey their message. The internet is now no longer spared the violence that up until a decade ago was endured exclusively by the conventional formats of the press, radio and television. Who is safe from harm? Probably nobody. Just in the violent conflict in Syria, and in the space of barely a 35 S/RES/222 (2015) http://www.un.org/es/comun/docs/index.asp?symbol=S/RES/2222(2015)&referer=/spa-nish/& http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee Lang=E 36 S/2015/307 http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2015/307&referer=/english/&Lang=E 37 Reporters Without Borders, http://en.rsf.org/press-freedom-barometer-journalists-killed. html?annee=2011 (consulted June 2015). 38 A/HRC/20/17, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue (4 June 2012), para. 4. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/ HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session20/A-HRC-20-17_en.pdf.
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