January 24: On Wednesday, PEN International joined the Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other partner organisations in sending a letter to Josep Borrell, the High Representative for the European Union on Foreign and Security Policy, urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war.
The unprecedented killing of so many journalists in so brief a period of time “has obvious and profound implications for the ability of the public, including the citizens of the European Union, to be informed about a conflict with local, regional, and global implications,” said the letter. “We are writing to entreat you to act immediately and decisively to promote the conditions for safe and unrestricted reporting on the hostilities.”
According to CPJ data, more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.
The letter reflects CPJ’s wider calls for action by the international community published in December 2023.
Read the full text of the letter here.
