'Global Day of Action' to mark one-year anniversary of Philippines massacre

International journalism organisations are preparing to hold a Global Day of Action next week to mark the one-year anniversary of the so-called 'Maguindanao massacre', recorded by the Committee to Protect Journalists as the deadliest single event for journalists since it started keeping records in 1992.

On November 23 last year 32 journalists and media workers were reportedly killed, alongside at least 25 others in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao in the southern Philippines.

One year on, the International Federation of Journalists and its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) are calling on journalists, media workers and friends to prepare for a Global Day of Action on November 23.

The organisations involved are coordinating a number of international activities, including Facebook and Twitter protests, while the NUJP and its local partners in the Philippines will run a program of events throughout the country in the lead up to the event and on the day, according to a report by the IFJ.

The Asia-Pacific arm of the IFJ will join the NUJP in the Philippines that week for an 'international mission' to show solidarity to the families and colleagues of those killed and to support the NUJP's campaign for justice.

Fifty people are reportedly now on trial in the Philippines for the killings, following the arraignment of 28 new suspects last week, most of them policemen. All pleaded not guilty to multiple murder charges.

According to the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, the Philippines has the second highest murder rate for media personnel in this century, beaten only by Iraq.