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November 5, 2024 – General –
The annual International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists—the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) marked the occasion with a powerful webinar calling attention to the dire circumstances facing media professionals across Africa.
The ACHPR’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression emphasized that journalists routinely face grave threats—including detention, torture, kidnapping, and online harassment—raising significant obstacles to the free flow of information guaranteed under Article 9 of the African Charter. Such violations not only hinder public discourse but also deepen societal vulnerability by silencing critical voices.
Regional experts detailed specific crises across Africa: incidents in the Sahel, Horn of Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa were spotlighted, including targeted killings, incommunicado detentions, and digital surveillance. Some areas are now deemed “information-free zones,” where journalists are forcibly expelled and left with no safe means to document events or hold power to account.
The webinar underscored a troubling global trend: roughly 1,700 journalists were killed between 2006 and 2024, with an alarming nearly 90 percent of cases remaining unresolved. According to UNESCO data, the initial failure to prosecute perpetrators acts as a precursor to repeated violence, creating a permissive environment that emboldens those who threaten or harm the press.
Participants in the webinar advocated for decisive steps: states must investigate and prosecute attacks on journalists, reform repressive laws, end SLAPPs and intrusive surveillance, and guarantee journalists prompt habeas corpus and due process. The AHCPR reaffirmed that protecting journalists is not auxiliary—it’s essential to democracy, justice, and transparency, consistent with the UN Plan of Action on Journalist Safety and Article 20 of the African Declaration on Freedom of Expression.
This collective reckoning sends a clear message: impunity is not just a local concern—it’s a global affront to democracy. As long as crimes against journalists remain unpunished, post-conflict recovery, public safety, and institutional accountability remain critically impaired. The ACHPR’s call at this year’s commemoration is therefore both urgent and uncompromising: protect those who seek to speak truth to power, or allow darkness to fall on the conscience of societies.
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