The EU must defend journalists worldwide from assassination and imprisonment

Chairs of the EP’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

On the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (2 November), the chairs of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA, FR) and the Special Committee on the European Democracy Shield (EUDS) Nathalie Loiseau (Renew, FR) join together in commemorating a day which serves as a solemn reminder that every day brave individuals risk their lives and their freedom to hold those in power accountable and to deliver credible and factual news to the world:

“We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the safety of journalists and the principle of zero tolerance for impunity. Journalists around the world are murdered simply for doing their job — for uncovering the truth. Daphne Caruana Galizia stands as a prime example of this; at the European Parliament we have established a prize in her memory and to honour our commitment to defending investigative journalism and the free press. The European Parliament has been adamant in its commitment to ensuring that impunity for attacks against journalists comes to an end; in this context, Parliament awarded the 2025 Sakharov Prize to two journalists who bravely spoke out against their governments in, respectively, Georgia and Belarus, and who were arrested for simply practising their profession. Each life taken is a silenced voice, sending a chilling message to others and undermining the public’s right to information.

“The numbers speak for themselves: in 2025 alone, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 96 journalists have been killed and this number rises to 110 when media-workers are included, with Gaza being a particularly dire situation. But journalists are also assassinated outside of war zones, and their murders have increased by 13,5% in the last three years according to the UN Observatory of Killed Journalists. We are outraged at the increasing number of journalists killed worldwide and call for immediate, concrete action to hold perpetrators accountable. The multilateral community must step up and the European Union must spearhead this effort.

“The European Union must use all the tools at its disposal to ensure accountability. The July 2023 European Parliament resolution on the protection of journalists and the EU’s policy on the matter explicitly calls for EU programmes and initiatives to be “fully employed in the EU’s external governance to provide targeted support to media and news organisations in non-EU countries”. Crimes against journalists take many forms. Harassment, intimidation, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention also remain widespread tactics used to silence the press and impede on the free flow of information. Impunity breeds impunity, and we cannot let the pursuit of truth come at the cost of journalists’ lives and liberty.”