For the first time in over a decade, the share of journalist murders that end without justice has climbed, according to a fresh UNESCO report. The UN cultural agency also flags a troubling development on the battlefield: drones are now being used against reporters covering conflicts.
UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany said journalists are paying with their lives in ever greater numbers while covering wars from the front lines, and that the people behind these killings too rarely face consequences.
UNESCO began tracking unpunished journalist killings in 2012. In 2024-2025, the impunity rate hit 86 per cent, a one-point rise from the preceding two-year period.
The human toll was also severe. A confirmed 189 journalists and media workers were killed across 2024-2025, a 20 per cent jump on the previous biennium and the deadliest stretch since 2014-2015. Of these, 127 deaths, or 67 per cent, occurred in conflict zones.
These findings come from the Director-General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, released every two years to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on 2 November.
The report states that at least 34 journalists were killed over the past year alone, and that six in every seven such cases remain unresolved. In conflict settings, impunity approaches 100 per cent.
A Global Problem
Killings occurred in every region during the biennium, a pattern the report calls “a global scourge.” The verified cases break down as follows:
- Arab States: 97
- Latin America and the Caribbean: 37
- Asia-Pacific: 34
- Central and Eastern Europe: 14
- Africa: 6
- Western Europe and North America: 1
The State of Palestine recorded the most killings in both years, with 30 and 32 respectively.
UNESCO singled out the rising use of drones against journalists as a worrying new danger. Drone strikes accounted for the deaths of 50 journalists in 2024-2025, or 40 per cent of all media fatalities in conflict zones.
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The report documented seven attacks in which multiple journalists were killed at once, including strikes on newsrooms and makeshift reporting hubs. Fifteen journalists were reportedly killed while wearing press vests or travelling in vehicles clearly marked “Press.”
Mr. El-Enany renewed his appeal for compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 2222, adopted unanimously in 2015, which treats journalists, media professionals and associated personnel as civilians in conflict, a status reaffirmed in the Pact for the Future.
The report did note encouraging trends. In countries not experiencing conflict, impunity has kept falling, dropping from 94 per cent in 2012 to 77 per cent in 2026, roughly one percentage point each year. Killings in non-conflict settings, at 85, are the lowest recorded in 18 years.
Women Journalists Face Added Dangers
Women in the profession remain especially vulnerable, both in war zones and online. Of the 14 women journalists killed in the period, 13 died in countries gripped by armed conflict.
A 2025 study by UN Women and the International Center for Journalists found that 75 per cent of women journalists had suffered online or offline abuse and harassment. Over 40 per cent reported offline violence tied to online attacks, double the roughly 20 per cent recorded in a 2020 UNESCO survey.
“Across the world, journalists continue to pay an outrageous price for telling the truth. On this International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, we demand justice. When journalists are targeted and their reporting is extinguished, it makes victims of us all,” the UN Secretary-General said.