UNESCO warned in a report published on Monday, marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, that impunity rates in cases involving the killing of journalists have increased for the first time since 2012.
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The report found that “the global impunity rate for the killings of journalists rose by one percentage point this year, reaching 86%.”
The rate had been steadily declining since 2012, when it peaked at 95%, falling to 85% in 2024.
The term “impunity” refers to killings in which investigations have failed to produce results or are still ongoing.
This means that six out of every seven perpetrators of crimes against journalists escape justice.
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Maria Gabriele told reporters that “investigations and prosecutions related to the killings of journalists in conflict zones remain insufficient.”
She explained that the international organization “is not a court,” but works to “exert pressure to ensure justice is served.”
The biennial report recorded the killings of 189 journalists, media workers and social media content creators during 2024 and 2025, including 14 women.
This two-year period was the deadliest for journalists in the past decade.
Two-thirds (67%) of those killed were in conflict zones, including the Palestinian territories, Yemen and Ukraine. Gabriele said this “represents a major shift in the global landscape of risks facing journalists.”
UNESCO also highlighted the growing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), which were responsible for 26% of all journalist killings during 2024 and 2025.
The report stated that “the State of Palestine once again recorded the highest number of cases” in 2025, with at least 32 killings.
The organization further noted that journalists continue to be killed inside their homes or while wearing vests identifying them as members of the press.
A total of 1,641 journalists have been killed worldwide since 2006, when UNESCO began monitoring such cases, equivalent to an average of one journalist killed every four days.
Some figures in UNESCO's report differ from those published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
UNESCO attributed these discrepancies to “the difficulty of assessing the circumstances of deaths in some cases, given the constantly changing nature of conflicts.”
