War makes it harder to hold journalists’ killers accountable, experts say

Achieving justice in the targeted killings of journalists is a difficult task made even more complicated in cases that take place in wartime, experts say.
On a global scale, 85% of journalist killings around the world since 2006 remain unsolved, according to a report released by UNESCO on Saturday. In 2013, the United Nations declared November 2 the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.
Impunity in journalist killings has long been the norm, and active conflict exacerbates the problem, according to Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.
“You have fewer resources to devote to investigations,” Ginsberg told VOA. “Courts are often overwhelmed. The ability to do investigations is hampered because there’s a live conflict going on.”
That has been the case in the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, civil war in Myanmar and gang violence in Haiti.
The war in Gaza
With the Israel-Hamas war, as of October 31, at least 134 journalists and media workers — primarily Palestinians — have been killed since the conflict began last year, according to CPJ.
CPJ has determined that the Israeli military targeted five of them in direct connection to their work as journalists. Israel ranks second worst in the world in terms of impunity in journalist killings, according to CPJ’s index, which was published Wednesday.
In one incident on October 13, 2023, the Israeli military fired two tank shells 37 seconds apart in southern Lebanon in the direction of media crews. The journalists were about one mile from the closest hostilities, wore vests marked “PRESS” and stood next to a car marked “TV,” according to reports. The attack killed Lebanese Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six other reporters.
CPJ and news outlets have determined the case was a deliberate attack.
At the time, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations said Israeli forces would never want to “kill or shoot any journalist” who is working, but that “in a state of war, things might happen. We regret them, we feel sorry.” The ambassador said that Israel would investigate.
“I’m dismayed that there has been no accountability since the attack on October 13, but not surprised,” Ginsberg told VOA in September in New York. Impunity in journalist killings has been a problem in Israel for decades, she added.
CPJ is investigating the possible targeted killings of 10 more journalists in the Israel-Hamas war. Determining what happened is difficult because of the conflict and restrictions on access for foreign media to Gaza.
“Anyone responsible for the killing of a journalist, of a civilian, should be prosecuted and held accountable. Journalists are civilians. They’re not targets,” Ginsberg said.
Israel’s military did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story. Israel has previously denied targeting journalists.
The civil war in Myanmar
Accountability is also difficult in Myanmar’s civil war.
Since the military launched a coup in 2021, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed, more than 27,000 people have been arrested, and more than 3.3 million people have been displaced, according to the U.N. human rights office.
At least seven journalists have been killed over their work since the coup, according to CPJ. Three of those killings took place this year, including two who were killed by security forces in a raid on their house and another who was killed in military custody.
Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told VOA: “The assault on the media, the assault on journalism, the assault on the principle of the freedom of the press, is all part of their stock-in-trade to hide their systematic assaults on the people of Myanmar.”
Myanmar ranks 10th in the world in terms of impunity in journalist killings, according to CPJ.
Myanmar’s military did not reply to VOA’s request for comment.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Russia’s war in Ukraine has also led to calls for accountability. While Russia does not appear on the 2024 Impunity Index — which looks at targeted killings only — at least 15 journalists and media workers have been killed covering the war, according to CPJ.
“Without accountability, we’re essentially giving a green light for further attacks on journalists not only in Ukraine but potentially in future conflicts worldwide,” National Union of Journalists of Ukraine President Sergiy Tomilenko told VOA in an email.
“Protecting journalists isn’t just about individual cases — it’s about defending democracy and the right to truth. Each unpunished attack on a journalist emboldens those who want to silence independent media,” Tomilenko said.
Russia’s Washington embassy and Foreign Ministry did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.
Among the cases of journalists killed is that of Viktoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian custody in September.
The circumstances surrounding Roshchyna’s death remain unclear because the Russian government has refused to return her body to Ukraine.
Without a body, it will be difficult to determine how she died, according to Karol Luczka, who monitors Eastern Europe at the International Press Institute in Vienna.
“This is a particularly appalling case of impunity,” he said.
Based on UNESCO data, a journalist was killed every four days for doing their job in 2022 and 2023. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay called on member states to do more to hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable.
“Prosecuting and convicting the perpetrators is a major lever to prevent future attacks on journalists,” she said in a statement.