Global call: Israel must commit to protecting journalists

More than 80 journalists associations and unions from all over the world today call for the Israeli government to take explicit steps to protect the lives of journalists covering the war in Gaza, in accordance with international law. Since the war started the number of fatalities among media workers has exceeded one a day – a rate that is without precedent.

AFP's photographer Mahmud Hams stands with his camera by the bodies of victims killed in Israeli bombardment ahead of their funeral in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on October 31, 2023. Credit: Mohammed Abed / AFP

The IFJ's call, which has signatories from every continent, is that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) rigorously observe international law that requires combatants to take all reasonable steps to treat journalists as civilians and to safeguard their lives.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger said: “The number of media workers who have lost their lives in three weeks of conflict is unprecedented. This rate of attrition among media workers has deeply shocked journalists the world over. No one can watch the growing tally of fallen colleagues without mounting horror. We demand an explicit commitment from the Israelis that their armed forces will take every effort to ensure that the grim tally of journalists who have died in this conflict rises no further. This is simply unacceptable, and the Isreali government will have to accept its responsibilities”.

List of signatories*:

La Asociación Nacional de Periodistas del Peru (Peru)

Federación Argentina de Tabajadores de Presna – FATPREN (Argentina)

FEDERACAO NACIONAL DOS JORNALISTAS (FENAJ) - Federacao Nacional dos Jounalistas – FENAJ (Brasil)

Federación Nacional de Periodistas de Ecuador – FENAPE  (Ecuador)

Federación Colombiana de Periodistas – FECOLPER (Colombia)

Sindicato de Periodistas de Panamá (Panamá)

Sindicato de Periodistas de Paraguay (Paraguay)

Asociación de la Prensa Hondureña – APH  (Honduras)

Unión de Periodistas Artes Gráficas y Ramas Anexas – UPAGRA (Puerto Rico)

Sindicato Nacional de Periodistas de Costa Rica (Costa Rica)

Red de Periodistas de Guatemala (Guatemala)

Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de los Medios de Comunicación Social – Fenatramco FENTARAMCO - (Chile)

Oman Journalist Association (Oman)

Sindicato Nacioinal de Trabajadores de las Presna (República Dominicana)

Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana – FNSI (Italy)

National Union of Journalists – NUJ (UK and Ireland)

Federacion de Asociaciones de la Prensa Espanola (FAPE) Spain

Federación de Servicios a la Cuidadania de CC.OO FSC-CC.OO (Spain)

Sudanese Journalists union (Sudan)

Gambia Press Union – GPU (Gambia)

Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (Yemen)

Kuwait Journalists Association (Kuwait)

Afghan Independent Journalists Union (Afghanistan)

Fedatation nationale des communications et de la culture (Canada)

Press Union of Liberia (Liberia)

Sri Lanka working journalists Association (Sri Lanka)

Bahrain Journalist Association (Bahrain)

Indian Journalists Union – IJU (India)

Uganda Journalists Union (Uganda)

Kenya Union of Journalists (Kenya)

Trades Union of Croatian Journalists (Croatia)

Association of Iranian Journalists (Iran)

National Writers Union (USA)

Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas – FeSP (Spain)

National Union of Somali Journlaists (Somalia)

Association of Journalists (Ankara-Turkiye) (Turkiye)

Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers – SSNM (North Macedonia)

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Australia – MEAA  (Australia)

Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (Sierra Leone)

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (Pakistan)

Syndicat national de la presse marocaine (Morocco)

Syndicat National des Journalistes du Congo Brazzaville (Congo Brazzaville)

Union of Bulgarian journalists (Bulgaria)

Myanmar Journalist Network (Mayanmar)

National Union of Journalists (India)

Federation of Media Employee Trade Union (Sri Lanka)

The Alliance Independent Journalists – AJI (based in Indonesia)

JUADN (ESIEA) Greece

PEPU (ESPIT) Greece

Romanian Union  of Journalists MediaSind (Romania)

Asociación de la Prensa Uruguaya (APU) – Uruguay

Association of Taiwan Journalists (Taiwan)

National Union of Journalists of Ukraine - NUJU (Ukraine)

The Journalists` association of Serbia – UNS (Serbia)

DİSK Basın İş  (Turkey)

Syndicat général des journalistes Force Ouvrière (France)

Syndicat National des Journalistes - SNJ (France)

Panhellenic Federation of Journalists’ Unions Greece

SNJ – CGT (France)

Journalists' Union of Turkey TGS (Turkey)

Swedish Union of Journalists (Sweden)

Nederlandese Verniging van Journalisten (Netherlands)

Unifor (Canada)

Syrian Arab Republic Journalsits Union (Syria)

Cambodian Journalists Alliance (Cambodia)

The Alliance of Independent Journalists AJI (Indonesia)

The Journalists Association of Korea – JAK (Korea)

E tū – Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Union of Cyprus Journalists (Cyprus)

Norsk Journalistlag – NJ (Norway)

Periodical and Electronic Press Union – PEPU (Greece)

Sindicato dos Jornalistas (Portugal)

Syndicom (Switzerland)

The NewsGuild-CWA (USA)

FeSMC-UGT (Spain)

Croatian Journalists' Association (Croatia)

Syrian Journalists Association (Syria)

Association luxembourgeoise des journalistes professionnels – ALSP (Luxembourg

Syndicat National des Professionnels de  la Presse de Côte d'Ivoire – SYNAPPCI (Ivory Coast)

The Association of Professional Journalists of Albania (Albania)

The Canadian Association of Journalists - CAJ (Canada)

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (Philippines)

*The list of signatories grows by minutes. Associations and journalists' unions are welcome to sign and we will update it accordingly.This version was last updated on 16 November at 11 AM.  

For more information, please contact IFJ on +32 2 235 22 16

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 146 countries

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