30 percent of journalists killed in 2023 were from Gaza, says RSF

 

Thirteen of the 45 journalists killed worldwide in connection with their work in 2023 were in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday.

In its annual report on journalists persecuted for their work, RSF said that there is “an overall decline in the number of journalists killed in the line of duty” this year as compared to 61 in 2022.

The decline is due to security measures, training and allocation of protective equipment, caution, and fight against impunity, the report underlined.

The report, based on data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2023, said 521 journalists were detained (50 less than last year), 54 were held hostage, and 84 went missing across the world.

Since the Israel-Hamas war started, 17 journalists have lost their lives in the exercise of their duties in Gaza (13), Lebanon (3) and Israel (1).

“Among civilians in Gaza, journalists are paying a heavy price,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

“We have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court to establish the facts and to what point journalists were knowingly targeted,” he said.

Overall, 23 journalists lost their lives while reporting in war zones, accounting for 51.1 percent of those killed.

Apart from the Gaza war, journalists lost their lives while covering armed clashes in northern Cameroon, northern Mali, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.

For the first time since 2018, the number of journalists killed in conflict zones is higher than those in peace areas, mainly due to the Israel-Hamas war. All the journalists killed in the Gaza Strip were due to Israeli attacks, the nonprofit said.

Among the 84 missing journalists, Mexico topped the list. with more than 30 journalists having disappeared – eight of them regarded as enforced disappearances. The country remains the most dangerous place in a peace zone to report from.

The repeated violence against journalists has created “more self-censorship” and spread of information black holes in Mexico, RSF said.

Among the 521 journalists detained worldwide, China, Myanmar, Belarus, and Vietnam accounted for more than half the cases.

China is the world’s largest prison for journalists with 121 media professionals behind bars on its soil.

Nearly a quarter, or 23 percent, of the journalists detained worldwide are now in Chinese jails, the report said.

In Myanmar, 68 journalists remain imprisoned, on charges such as “sedition” and “spreading fake news,” among others.

Reporters are also regularly targeted by the authorities in Vietnam, where 36 journalists have been detained, including 20 bloggers.

Thirty-nine journalists are behind bars in Belarus. The country has the highest number of detained female journalists (10) after China (14).

RSF has been compiling its annual report of violence and abuses against journalists since 1995.