UN leaders on Sunday called for safety and justice for journalists globally, urging governments to conduct investigations and ensure the protection of all media professionals.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered the message to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Guterres stated that nearly nine out of every ten journalist-killings remain unresolved and warned of a widespread climate of impunity that silences critical reporting and undermines democracy. Underscoring the global nature of the crisis, he said:

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.

Leaders stated that this impunity constitutes a fundamental breach of international law as well as speech, press, and expressive freedoms. The UN’s Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists, a multi-stakeholder initiative, serves as a major framework to combat these attacks. Consequently, the UN tasks member states to “implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity,” as outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/163, which formally established the international day.

The Secretary-General’s message, while meaningful, only constitutes a partial progress for press freedom advocates, who note growing threats of online violence against press figures, particularly women journalists. A UNESCO discussion paper, The Chilling, found that 73 percent of women journalists surveyed had been threatened, intimidated, or insulted online. However, the mechanisms to effectively combat this “technology-facilitated gender-based violence” remain underdeveloped and poorly enforced.

Since 1993, over 1,700 journalists have been killed worldwide, with the perpetrators facing justice in only one in ten cases. According to the UNESCO Director-General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, Latin America and the Caribbean are the deadliest regions for press members.