THE head of a United Nations agency has asked the Philippine government to use all its resources to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Nov. 23 attack on an election caravan in Maguindanao that left 57 people, including journalists, dead.

“This monstrous crime must not go unpunished,” said Irina Bokova, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), in a statement posted Saturday on the UN website.

“I condemn this outrage and urge the government of the Philippines to act swiftly, using all the resources at its disposal to bring the perpetrators to justice,” she said.

She said the victims and their families deserved swift justice.

“The barbaric killings of the people in the convoy—journalists and citizens alike—were clearly an attack against democracy and democratic processes. Furthermore, the killing of journalists violates the rights of the Philippine people to be freely and fairly informed of political developments,” she said.

The journalists were travelling with politicians and political supporters to file nomination papers for a gubernatorial candidate in Maguindanao when the convoy was ambushed by armed men believed to be with the Ampatuan clan.

The Unesco chief said last week’s deaths brought to 34 the number of journalists killed in the country this year.

Earlier this week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon deplored this “heinous crime” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

A global network of press freedom and free expression advocacy groups has described the Maguindanao massacre as “incomparable to anything we have seen.”

In a statement sent to officials of the Arroyo administration, the 47 members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Network (Ifex) condemned the massacre of the journalists and called for justice for the victims.

“The massacre of journalists in Maguindanao staggers our community. It is a crime of such scale and horror that is incomparable to anything we have seen,” said the group, which monitors attacks on journalists and media throughout the world.

Members of Ifex include Freedom House, Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, International Federation of Journalists, International Press Institute, World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and World Press Freedom Committee.

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“Our members call attention to various forms of violence and threats not just to journalists but to the larger environments in which independent media must survive. And still, the massacre of journalists in Maguindanao staggers our community,” the group said.

The Ifex also called on the Philippine government to “work swiftly and with urgency to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.”

“Beyond what is attributed to election-related violence and the reality of warlordism in the Philippines, we urge the Philippine government to address the larger problem of impunity that festers in Philippine society. It is this environment, where violence and crime go unpunished, that leads to tragedies such as befell our colleagues in Maguindanao. It is the same toxic environment for which the government itself must be held accountable and take responsibility,” it said.