(Adds quotes from CPJ news conference)

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Reuters) - Iraq has the worst record for failing to solve murders of journalists but some countries at peace such as the Philippines, Mexico and India also scored poorly, a journalism watchdog said on Wednesday.

There are 79 cases of unsolved murders of journalists in Iraq, where most journalists killed have been been targeted because of their work, not caught in crossfire, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report released at the United Nations.

The CPJ worked out its "Impunity Index" by compiling the number of unsolved journalist murder cases between 1998 and 2007 and dividing it by the size of a country's population.

Iraq became the world's most dangerous country for the press after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein and sparked insurgency and sectarian strife, the CPJ said. Most of the victims have been Iraqis.

Second on the index, compiled by the CPJ for the first time, is the West African state of Sierra Leone, where an 11-year civil war ended in 2002. Nine journalist murders remain unsolved, including one dating from 2005.

Third is Somalia, which has been in turmoil for the past 17 years and has five unsolved murder cases.

The report noted most countries on its index are democratic, not at war and have functioning law enforcement systems. "Yet journalists are regularly targeted for murder and no one is held accountable," the CPJ said.

PHILIPPINES "DEADLY" FOR JOURNALISTS

It highlighted the Philippines, which placed sixth on the index and where no convictions had been obtained in 24 cases.

"Journalists covering corruption, crime and politics have repeatedly been targeted with violence," it said.

The country "is one of the deadliest places in the world to be a journalist," Sheila Coronel, a Philippines journalist now living in New York, told a U.N. news conference. She blamed weak rule of law and a compromised justice system.

In Russia, ranked ninth with 14 unsolved cases, business, official corruption and human rights abuses were among the most dangerous beats, the CPJ said. Victims included investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, shot in 2006, and American journalist Paul Klebnikov, who was killed in 2004.

In Mexico, which was rated 10th with seven cases, journalists covering drug trafficking, organized crime and corruption were at risk, the report said. India, the world's largest democracy, had five cases, all local reporters.

The failure by countries to bring journalists' murderers to justice "speads fear throughout the society, it curtails the free circulation of information and ideas, it inhibits the day-to-day functioning of the press," CPJ executive director Joel Simon told the news conference.

Simon accused governments of lacking the political will to prosecute such cases. "It is our hope that these countries who are on this list will be somewhat embarrassed," he said.

The CPJ listed the following 13 countries on its index in order of impunity: Iraq, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Afghanistan, Nepal, Russia, Mexico, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. It noted that six of those were in South Asia. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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