No impunity for crimes against journalists

THE 2025 United Nations international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists is on Sunday 2 November. The International Federation of Journalists, of which the NUJ is a member, has long made this a central plank of its campaigning for journalists’ safety, calling for a binding international legal instrument specifically protecting journalists.

Sangita Myska addresses the London Freelance Branch vigil on 27 August

Image © Betty Dempsey

London Freelance Branch is partnering with the department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London and King’s College London Universities and Colleges Union branch to hold a symposium to mark this day. We invite journalists and students to join us from 14:00 to 16.00 on the Strand Campus at King’s College London, followed by a reception for an hour. Register here.

Our speakers confirmed so far are:

John McDonnell MP;
Neve Gordan, professor of human rights law at Queen Mary University of London;
Tayab Ali of Bindman’s solicitors;
Dr Moosa Qureshi of Health Workers 4 Palestine; and
Joseph Willetts, Parliamentary Liaison Officer for CAABU

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UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - states that “ending impunity for crimes against journalists is an essential precondition to guarantee freedom of expression and access to information for all.” The unprecedented number of journalists slaughtered in the Gaza genocide gives this new urgency.

As UNESCO continues: “journalists, media professionals, and associated media personnel exercise their duties in highly dangerous contexts. Too many pay an unacceptably high price, including death, enforced disappearance, torture, unlawful detention, and kidnapping, for producing independent, reliable, and verifiable information.

“Whether reporting on conflict, humanitarian disasters, climate or health crises, journalists continue to face disproportionate threats and higher levels of impunity for extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention, as well as intimidation and harassment, both offline and online.”

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists unesco.org

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