Dear Press Freedom Supporter,

“Every time a journalist is murdered and the killers aren’t brought to justice, it is censorship by murder,” I testified before The Hague on November 2 as part of the People’s Tribunal, an effort by leading press freedom groups including CPJ that seeks to hold governments accountable for journalist murders.

“When you have a high level of impunity, it creates an environment where those who are predisposed to use violence are incentivized to do so,” I said, “because they know they are silencing an irreplaceable voice and there is very little chance they will be brought to justice.”

Of the 911 journalists who have been murdered globally since 1992, according to CPJ’s records, there has been no resolution in 728 of the cases.

That is why, for more than a decade, CPJ has waged a campaign to combat impunity. This is one of the most important things that we do. When a journalist is murdered, we talk to local authorities, the journalist’s family, and other local press, and we highlight the case in our work. We advocate around each murder and call on government officials to bring the killers to justice. And we publish our annual Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free. The report, which we released earlier this month, found that Somalia remains the worst place for unsolved killings of journalists, with Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan occupying the next worst spots on the list.

We know that change takes time, but our efforts, and that of our partners, are paying off. Today, our data show that one out of every five journalist murders is solved—a huge improvement from a decade ago, when one out of every 10 journalist killings was solved.

If you can, we hope you will make a gift so we can continue our important work. Stand with CPJ and help us stamp out impunity today.

Joel Simon
Executive Director