New York - Gaza: Europe and the Arabs
A number of UN experts said: “The Israeli military operation in Gaza, following the heinous attack launched by Hamas on October 7, has become the bloodiest and most dangerous conflict for journalists in modern history.” According to what was stated in the United Nations daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received
The experts added in a statement published over the weekend that they are “concerned” about the extremely high numbers of journalists and media workers who have been killed, attacked, injured or arrested in the occupied Palestinian territory, especially in Gaza, in recent months, “in blatant disregard for international law.” ".
“We condemn all killings, threats and attacks on journalists and call on all parties to the conflict to protect them,” the experts said. The experts’ statement explained that according to United Nations reports, since October 7, more than 122 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, and many of them were injured. .
Three journalists were also killed in Lebanon as a result of Israeli bombing near the Lebanese border, according to the statement. Hamas killed four Israeli journalists in the October 7 attacks. Israeli forces arrested dozens of Palestinian journalists in both Gaza and the West Bank, where harassment, intimidation, and attacks on journalists have increased since the October 7 attacks, according to the experts’ statement.
'Enormous hardship and tragic loss'
The human rights experts particularly praised “the courage and resilience of journalists and media workers in Gaza who continue to put their lives at risk every day in the line of duty, while also enduring enormous hardship and tragic losses to colleagues, friends and families in Gaza in one of the bloodiest and most brutal conflicts of our time.”
The experts added that rarely have journalists paid "such a high price" simply for doing their work as journalists in Gaza are doing now. They highlighted the case of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, who lost his wife, two of his children, and his grandson as a result of the Israeli bombing on October 25, 2023, and he himself suffered a drone attack that led to the death of his fellow photographer in late December.
Al-Dahdouh lost another son, also a journalist at Al Jazeera, who died along with another journalist in an Israeli drone air strike that targeted their car on January 7, 2024.
The experts said they had received alarming reports that, although journalists were clearly identifiable wearing vests and helmets marked “press” or traveling in clearly marked press vehicles, they were being attacked, which seemed to indicate that operations The killing, injury and arrest are “a deliberate strategy by Israeli forces to obstruct the media and silence critical reporting.”
The experts stressed that in times of conflict, the right to obtain information is a “right of survival” on which the very lives of civilians depend, and journalists play an indispensable role as a vital source of information, as human rights defenders and witnesses to atrocities, as they monitor violations and abuses of international law. Humanity and human rights.
They added that journalists are entitled to protection as civilians under international humanitarian law, warning that “targeted attacks and killing of journalists are war crimes.”
Call for investigations
The experts expressed deep concern about Israel's refusal to allow media from outside Gaza to enter and report unless they are accompanied by Israeli forces, stressing that attacks on media in Gaza and restrictions imposed on other journalists in Gaza, along with severe internet outages, "constitute Major obstacles to the right of access to information for the people of Gaza as well as the outside world.”
They urged the Israeli authorities to allow journalists to enter Gaza and to protect the safety of all journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory. They also called on the parties to the conflict to allow prompt, independent and impartial investigations into each killing of journalists in accordance with international standards, in particular the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Wrongful Deaths.
The independent experts also urged the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to pay particular attention to “the dangerous pattern of attacks and impunity for crimes against journalists,” stressing that the targeting and killing of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territory “must stop.”
The UN experts are:
Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Maurice Tidball-Benz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
It is noteworthy that special rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, which is an intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world. Rapporteurs and experts are tasked with studying human rights situations and submitting reports on them to the Human Rights Council. It should be noted that this position is honorary, and these experts are not considered employees of the United Nations and do not receive compensation for their work.