November 2 marks the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Ongoing wars and rising geopolitical tensions create a dangerous environment for journalists.1 UNESCO’s data from 2017 onwards showed a gradual decrease in media workers killed in conflict zones, but this trend has recently reversed. In 2023, over 50% of journalist killings occurred in crisis and conflict areas, a pattern that persisted into the first half of 2024.2 The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has accounted for the majority of conflict-related killings. As of December 19, 2023, UNESCO reported 19 fatalities in Palestine, 3 in Lebanon, and 2 in Israel since October 7. Additionally, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Syria, and Ukraine each had at least two killings.3
Freedom of expression and access to information are fundamental rights, enshrined in various international and regional human rights conventions, including Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan describes access to information as a “survival right”.1 Journalists can significantly contribute to the protection of civilians and conflict prevention, by identifying and reporting potential situations that may lead to genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.4 Hence, crimes against journalists violate not only the journalists’ rights but also those of the broader civil society. Media freedom is integral to the broader ecosystem of civil society, the rule of law, and democracy.
This international day brings attention to impunity and its ripple effects. When crimes against journalists go uninvestigated, it normalizes violence, oppresses voices, and poses a threat to democracy. The killing of journalists, used as a form of censorship, can thrive in today’s international environment because of impunity. According to UNESCO, nine out of ten killers of journalists escape justice.2
In the Asia-Pacific region, press freedom worsened in 2024, according to Reporters without Borders. In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Myanmar rank as the world’s fourth and second-largest jailers of journalists, respectively.5 Cambodia’s situation is categorized as “very serious”, as well as the Philippines, where two journalists were murdered in 2023. However, historically, the statistics from the Philippines indicate a declining trend in the country. In 2024, one journalist was killed in Indonesia and three in Myanmar, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).6 Last year’s CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which annually ranks countries where journalists are killed and perpetrators go free, placed the Philippines eighth and Myanmar ninth. Since the index’s inception, the Philippines has consistently appeared on the list.7 Despite over 30 years of CPJ documentation, nearly 80% of journalist killings remain unsolved.
The continuing prevalence of impunity worldwide was a central theme at this year’s Trygve Lie Symposium, held on September 26, titled “Media Freedom as a Fundamental Freedom and Human Right: Protecting Journalists and Their Access to Conflict Areas”.1 In Palestine, for instance, no killings of journalists have ever resulted in open and independent investigations, prosecutions, or punishments. According to the CPJ, one of the speakers at the symposium, the recent conflict in Gaza has marked one of the deadliest periods for journalists since CPJ began tracking data in 1992.The symposium also emphasized the urgent need for enhanced collaboration among organizations such as OHCHR, UNHCR, and UNESCO and the strengthening of existing protective instruments.1
Although established mechanisms like UN fact-finding missions and commissions of inquiry aim to address these issues, their enforcement mechanisms still need to be stronger. Effectiveness is limited by their dependence on access to events on the ground, which in turn relies on the political will of states, authorities, non-state actors, and occupying powers. Ending impunity requires not only global attention but also stronger national commitment and action to protect journalists and uphold their rights.
This was emphasized by the Security Council Res. 2222 in 2015, when the council recalled and put pressure on states’ obligations to protect journalists, also within armed conflicts as decreed by international humanitarian law. Furthermore, they condemned all violations and abuses committed against journalists in situations of armed conflict, and the prevailing impunity for these crimes.3 However, the responsibility placed on states can be problematic, as some may lack control over certain areas within their borders. Non-state actors are more difficult to hold responsible. The resolution and other statements from UN bodies aim to remind countries that their legal systems – such as counterterrorism measures, national security laws, fake news regulations, and criminal liability laws – that are often used to prosecute and censor journalists, do not have precedence over international human rights laws.
The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists was established 11 years ago in 2013, following the killings of two Radio France Internationale journalists in Kidal, Mali. Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon had just conducted an interview with Ambery Ag Rissa, then-leader of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a group that fought for an independent Azawad state in northern Mali. Shortly after leaving the interview, unidentified gunmen abducted the journalists, who were later found dead.8
Ending the impunity of crimes against journalists is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal 16, to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.9 The global community must unite to end impunity and ensure that journalists can operate safely and freely, as their work can contribute to an improved democracy.
(Alva Lange is a Research Fellow at HDFF)
Sources:
2: https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-impunity-crimes-against-journalists
3: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/2023-alarming-increase-journalists-killed-conflict-zones
4: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/793613?ln=en&v=pdf
5: https://rsf.org/en/region/asia-pacific
8: https://cpj.org/2013/11/two-rfi-journalists-abducted-killed-in-mali/
9: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000390976.locale=en
Comments are closed