Over the Past Decade, 19 Journalists Have Disappeared Without a Trace

August 30, 2024 – General – 

Over the past ten years, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports that 19 journalists have fallen victim to enforced disappearance by state actors and have yet to be found, accounting for the majority of the 32 journalists who vanished globally during this period. These deliberate abductions represent a grave escalation in the suppression of press freedom, undermining journalists’ safety and the public’s right to information.

RSF defines enforced disappearance as a situation in which state agents detain individuals and refuse to acknowledge their whereabouts, effectively placing them outside the protection of the law. This sinister tactic is increasingly used to silence journalists deemed critical of authorities, allowing governments to hide both the act and the consequences of repression.

This trend is deeply troubling. RSF Director-General Thibaut Bruttin noted that the tactic is on the rise globally, warning that governments are using this method to quash unwelcome reporting while evading accountability. The report emphasizes that enforced disappearances are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic attempt to eliminate investigative journalism through intimidation and fear.

In response, RSF urges universal ratification of the UN’s International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which currently has just 75 signatories. They also call on governments and judicial systems to carry out immediate, transparent investigations into each disappearance, hold those responsible accountable, and ensure families are informed and able to seek justice.

The impact of enforced disappearances extends well beyond the individuals themselves. The chilling effect resonates across newsrooms worldwide: journalists self-censor out of fear, investigative reporting is curtailed, and entire topics may go uncovered. This violation of press freedom contributes to an atmosphere where democracy and transparency are severely compromised.

RSF’s revelation that more than half of journalist disappearances over the past decade were state-sponsored, enforced disappearances is a clear signal: authoritarian regimes are increasingly willing to resort to the ultimate power play—making journalists vanish—to control information. Unless urgent steps are taken—including legal safeguards, international pressure, and enforcement of global conventions—press freedom will continue to retreat in the shadows cast by fear and disappearance.

Press freedom is too essential to lose—and when journalists disappear, truth disappears with them.

Reference – 

In the past decade, 19 journalists have fallen victim to enforced disappearance worldwide – and remain missing | RSF