The 2025 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) was observed throughout the world last week under the theme of Chat GBV: Raising Awareness on AI-facilitated Gender-Based Violence against Women Journalists. This year’s theme highlights the threats women journalists face in the digital space and the negative effect this can have on freedom of expression generally.
According to UNESCO, between 2006 and 2025 over 1,800 journalists have been killed around the world, with 9 out of 10 cases remaining judicially unresolved. Thus, impunity emboldens the fascist forces and leads to more killings. UNESCO is of the view that impunity damages whole societies by covering up serious human rights abuses, corruption, and crime.
In recognition of the far-reaching consequences of impunity, especially of crimes against journalists, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/68/163 at its 68th session in 2013 which proclaimed November 2 as the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ (IDEI). This resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers. It also urges Member States to do their utmost to prevent violence against journalists and media workers, to ensure accountability, bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers, and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies. It further calls upon States to promote a safe and enabling environment for journalists to perform their work independently.
The special day encourages governments, civil society, the media, and everyone concerned to uphold the rule of law and join in the global efforts to end impunity. The latest UNESCO data on killings of journalists show that the global impunity rate for journalist killings remains shockingly high at 85%. In his message on the day António Guterres, UN Secretary-General said: “Media professionals around the globe face mounting perils in their pursuit of truth – including verbal abuse, legal threats, physical attacks, imprisonment, and torture. Some are even killed. On this International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, we demand justice. Gaza has been the deadliest place for journalists in any conflict. I call once again for independent and impartial investigations. Impunity anywhere is not only an injustice to the victims and their families – it is an assault on press freedom, an invitation to further violence, and a threat to democracy itself. All governments must investigate every case. Prosecute every perpetrator. And ensure that journalists can do their jobs freely everywhere.”
In his message on the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government would take steps to ensure effective investigation, justice, and prosecution in cases of crimes against journalists. To quote the PM, “Today reminds us that a free, informed, and responsible press is the foundation of any democratic society. Journalists enable public access to facts and are torchbearers of truth. Violence, threats, or reprisals against them while performing their duties are attacks on freedom of expression. The government of Pakistan is committed to protecting press freedom. A free press guarantees a strong, transparent, and democratic Pakistan.”
The digital revolution has created new opportunities as well as challenges. Women are particularly at risk, especially those in public-facing roles such as journalists, politicians, and scientists. They face AI-driven threats, surveillance, deepfakes and other forms of harassment. This issue, known as technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), has become alarmingly prevalent in ghe digital space. “Chat GBV” is a call to action for all stakeholders to tackle Gender-Based Violence (GBV) through various initiatives, including talking about it and proposing solutions.
Murder is the most extreme form of media censorship, but journalists are also face countless threats – ranging from kidnapping, torture and other physical attacks to harassment. Threats of violence and attacks against journalists create a climate of fear for media professionals, impeding the free flow of information for all citizens. In many cases, threats of violence and attacks against journalists are not properly investigated. If justice systems vigorously investigate all threats of violence against journalists, this will send a powerful message that society will not tolerate attacks against journalists and against the right to freedom of expression for all.
The UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity is the first coordinated effort to address the issue. Since the plan was adopted, the issue of safety of journalists has gained a higher visibility in the UN, as evidenced by the increasing number of declarations, resolutions and other normative texts, and the UN Secretary General’s Call to Action for Human Rights. Protecting journalists is also part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The day comes as a reminder that Pakistan is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists due to frequent threats, physical attacks, and a pervasive culture of impunity for perpetrators. In the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Pakistan was ranked 158th out of 180 countries. Recently, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the worsening situation for media professionals in Pakistan. The IFJ has expressed deep concern over targeted killings of journalists, misuse of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) to file cases against media workers, undeclared censorship, harassment by state and non-state actors, forced layoffs, and non-payment of salaries.