Do not kill, harm journalists

Highlights

• Over a decade after the UN declared 2 November the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
• At least 1,623 journalists have been killed worldwide in the 32 years since our colleagues at CPJ started tracking and documenting their deaths

By Jesper Højberg

Impunity for crimes against journalists – especially the killing of journalists – is a major threat to press freedom worldwide.

Over a decade after the UN declared 2 November the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, no one has been held accountable in nearly eight out of ten cases where a journalist was killed.

At least 1,623 journalists have been killed worldwide in the 32 years since our colleagues at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) started tracking and documenting their deaths.

That’s an average of one per week, every single year. Between October 2023 and today, 126 journalists were killed in Gaza alone, setting a grim record for the fastest pace at which journalists have been killed in recent history.

To mark this year’s Day to End Impunity, International Media Support (IMS) asked journalists in Gaza, Ukraine and Somalia to share their memories of close colleagues who were killed as a result of their work. No one has been held accountable in any of these cases.

Whenever a journalist is killed, imprisoned or forcibly disappeared, the threat reverberates out beyond the individual

Absence of accountability is absence of justice and sends a dangerous message to those out to silence journalists: don’t worry about the consequences – there is almost zero risk that you will be held accountable.

On this 2 November, IMS calls on governments and authorities worldwide to honour their duty to protect journalists and media workers, address threats against them in both the digital and physical world and ensure and facilitate independent investigations of crimes committed against them.

The Writer is Executive Director, Jesper Højberg, International Media Support (IMS).