At 2025 World Press Freedom Day, ARTICLE 19, together with OHCHR Sudan and OHCHR Palestine, held a roundtable discussion focused on the current challenges to press freedom and the safety of journalists in war zones and ways to enhance protection for journalists and accountability for crimes committed against the press.
Bringing together journalists and human rights defenders from Palestine, Sudan, and Ukraine alongside press freedom groups, policymakers, and humanitarian actors, the event highlighted the devastating reality faced by media workers operating in conflict zones around the world, and how the vacuum of leadership in the current geopolitical context continues to inhibit protection and accountability efforts.
Systemic silencing of journalists in Sudan
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a disastrous conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war has inflicted unimaginable harm on the civilian population. The blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law by all parties have manifested in indiscriminate killings, sexual violence and arbitrary detentions. Repeated Internet shutdowns have plunged Sudan into a total information blackout affecting tens of millions of people.
Silvia Chocarro of OHCHR Sudan spoke about the challenges faced by journalists, who put their lives and freedom at risk to report on a conflict many have deemed ‘forgotten’. Sudan’s media landscape has been devastated, with around 90% of media outlets no longer operational and many journalists displaced or unemployed. Those who continue their work face severe limitations under emergency and security measures restricting movement, expression, and assembly. In army-controlled areas, journalists must regularly seek permission from military intelligence, while in RSF-controlled zones, vague laws prohibit reporting on issues deemed a threat to public security. At least 70 journalists have been detained, and some effectively forcibly disappeared. Smear campaigns and online harassment have intensified, with public lists circulating online accusing journalists of betraying the nation.
The ongoing devastation deprives Sudanese people of access to lifesaving information and chills the expression of journalists who remain in the country – many of whom can simply no longer continue with their work.
War on journalists in Palestine
Shuruq As’ad, Palestinian journalist and founder of Palestine Journalism Hub, spoke powerfully about her colleagues being forced from their homes as Israeli bombs continue to fall on media offices and the homes of media workers in Gaza, often in targeted attacks. Eighteen months since the start of Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza, the conflict and genocide has become the deadliest for journalists and media workers in recent history, with at least 170 Palestinian journalists killed since 7 October 2023. Due to Israel’s blockade on aid entering Gaza, minimal access to food, water, and medical care makes basic survival an immeasurable hardship. The challenges of reporting from inside Gaza are magnified by communication blackouts and the total devastation of infrastructure. Meanwhile, Israel continues to ban foreign media reporting from inside Gaza, further exacerbating the information vacuum and preventing the outside world from seeing the extent and magnitude of the horrors in Gaza.
Shuruq observed how the violence and deaths of Palestinian people and Palestinian journalists at the hands of Israel continues to be normalised – another journalist killed becomes just another statistic. As Chantal Joris from ARTICLE 19 pointed out, around the world we’re observing a troubling trend of journalists being labeled as ‘propagandists’ or ‘terrorists’, often in an attempt to justify targeting them and to avoid accountability. The dehumanisation of Palestinians is also widespread in the digital sphere. Digital rights organisations including 7amleh and Sada Social have documented online abuses, and attacks on social media – since the start of the war, 7amleh’s Violence Indicator has documented nearly half a million pieces of gender-based violence content directed at Palestinian women.
Journalists and the media threatened in Ukraine
Maksym Dvorovyi from Digital Security Lab Ukraine pointed out that Ukrainian journalists have been victims of Russian aggression long before the start of the full scale invasion in 2022. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, citizen journalists have been targeted, with many arrested, in a campaign of systematic intimidation aimed at silencing independent reporting, and suppressing information about the situation in the occupied territories. The torture and death in detention of Ukrainska Pravda’s journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was captured by Russian forces when on reporting trip in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, is just one of the horrific examples of the dangers Ukrainian journalists face when reporting on Russia’s atrocities.
Since the start of the war, Russia has been targeting Ukrainian media infrastructure, with attacks directed at TV towers and premises of media outlets. At the same time, the civil society and independent media continue to battle the challenge of disinformation spread on Telegram which, while being one of the main sources of information for Ukrainians, is characterised by very light content moderation and has become the key channel for the spread of Russia’s propaganda.
The challenges experienced by Ukrainian media have been further exacerbated by the loss of funding from the United States, which impacted an estimated 70-80% of media outlets in Ukraine. For now, outlets continue to operate, but without further support. Many will soon face closures, with disastrous consequences for Ukrainian democracy. Especially in times of crisis, the media play a crucial role not only in informing the public but also in holding the government accountable. In Ukraine, this key function is under existential threat.
Finding a way forward – strengthening the protection of journalists in the face of blatant disregard for international law
The picture presented by the panelists highlighted the blatant disregard for international norms, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law. ARTICLE 19’s Chantal Joris explained how international law clearly protects journalists during armed conflict. A combination of international humanitarian and human rights norms offers not only physical protection but also functional protection. Although it is true that certain specific areas of international law remain unsettled, for example with respect to the international humanitarian rules applicable on cyber attacks against civilians, including journalists, many of the recent practices to clamp down on press freedom and attack journalists are in clear violation of international law. For example, even though times of conflict might justify derogations from certain aspects of human rights protections, a State must still be able to demonstrate how they uphold the principles of legality, legitimacy, necessity and proportionality – emergency measures cannot be used to unduly impede journalistic reporting or otherwise limit freedom of expression. Targeting alleged ‘propagandists’ for their reporting activities is another clear violation of international humanitarian law, as reporting does not amount to direct participation in hostilities.
Chantal Joris provided a number of recommendation to enhance the legal protection of journalists during armed conflict:
- States, the International Committee of The Red Cross, academia and other stakeholders contributing to the development of international humanitarian law – be it through treaty, custom or soft law instruments – should adopt an interpretation of international law that can better protect journalists from digital threats. For instance, it should be established that all cyber operations, including spyware, DDoS attacks, doxing campaigns or internet shutdowns must adhere to the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, if they are reasonably expected to cause – whether directly or indirectly – death or injury (to include serious illness and severe mental suffering), physical damage, or loss of functionality.
- International accountability mechanisms should explicitly express themselves on how attacks on the press and violations of freedom of expression can constitute or contribute to the commission of atrocities in conflicts – from attacks on journalists to new emerging threats in the information space, including internet shutdowns and information manipulation.
- Third states that are not direct conflict parties nevertheless have an obligation to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law. They should do everything they can to not contribute to any violations of international law and use any leverage they have on the conflict parties to uphold international law and protect journalists. Prosecuting crimes against journalists brought under universal jurisdiction is one concrete way to contribute to accountability efforts on a domestic level.
As the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Irene Khan highlighted, there needs to be a stronger appreciation of the role that the media and journalists play in wartime: access to information during war is not a luxury but a lifesaving necessity. Several of Irene Khan’s reports touch upon the challenges for journalists in conflict zones, also for women journalists; those include reports on gender equality and freedom of expression, gendered disinformation, disinformation during armed conflicts, journalists in exile and the a global crisis of freedom of expression’ unleashed by the conflict in Gaza. She made a number of concrete practical recommendations:
- The Security Council should reiterate the need to protect journalists in conflict zones as it did in resolution 2222 (2015) – it needs to be recognised that attacks on journalists and free expression in armed conflicts are an issue of peace and security.
- The rules of international humanitarian law should be amended to provide journalists with a level of legal protection equal to that provided to humanitarian and health workers. Unlike other civilians they are unable to move away from areas of combat as they must document the conduct of hostilities.
- Greater attention must also be paid to the specific threats faced by women journalists in conflict zones – they must receive better protection not only from belligerents but also from their media houses and those who provide assistance.
- Journalists in exile are particularly open to targeting and must receive more support in their countries of asylum – UNESCO, the OHCHR and UNHCR should further consider this as a matter of priority.
The panel agreed that any accountability efforts, at the international level and in domestic jurisdictions, ultimately require political commitment, sorely lacking in the current geopolitical climate. Arrest warrants are routinely ignored and some states openly question and undermine the legitimacy of international courts and international law more broadly.
As bleak as the situation may be, panelists agreed that civil society must continue to speak up about the unique dangers journalists face and put pressure on those in power to change the conditions in which they work. It is precisely in times of conflict when freedom of expression and media freedom must be protected – only then can conditions that can protect civilians and support lasting peace and security be fostered.
Find out more about Equally Safe – a feminist approach to the safety of journalists