The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) is a UN-recognized international day observed annually on 2 November.

This day highlights the persistently high level of impunity for crimes committed against journalists worldwide. According to the UNESCO observatory, between 2006 and 2024, more than 1,700 journalists were killed globally, with nearly 90% of these cases remaining unsolved in the courts. As journalists play a critical role in reporting facts to all citizens, impunity for attacks against them has a particularly damaging impact, limiting public awareness and constructive debate. On 2 November, organizations and individuals worldwide are encouraged to talk about the unresolved cases in their countries, and write to government and intra-governmental officials to demand action and justice. UNESCO organizes an awareness-raising campaign on the findings of the UNESCO Director-General’s biennial Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, which catalogues the responses of states to UNESCO’s formal request for updates on progress in cases of killings of journalists and media workers. UNESCO and civil society groups throughout the world also use 2 November as a launch date for other reports, events and other advocacy initiatives relating to the problem of impunity for crimes against freedom of expression.

IDEI 2026 features the global campaign “THREATS EVOLVE. IMPUNITY ENDURES.”, the release of highlights from UNESCO’s Director-General’s Report, and events worldwide.New technologies and weapons are changing the ways attacks against journalists are carried out. Yet one thing remains unchanged: those who kill are rarely held accountable. The release of the Highlights of the 2026 UNESCO Director-General’s Report on the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, released on IDEI, provides bleak evidence of this change, including the latest impunity rate for the cases recorded in the UNESCO Observatory on Killed Journalists. In 2024 and 2025 alone, 189 journalists were killed in violent attacks, 67% occurred in conflict zones. Fifty of those were killed by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones across just six war zones, highlighting the emergence of new technology-enabled threats. For women journalists, these new risks are compounded by gender-based violence, online abuse and other targeted threats. Yet while the means of war are changing, impunity remains unacceptably high. For the first time since UNESCO started measuring the global impunity rate in 2012, the overall rate has increased by one percentage point to 86%, leaving almost nine out of ten killings judicially unresolved. There is, however, evidence that accountability has evolved too. In countries not experiencing armed conflict, the number of killings fell to 62, its lowest level in 18 years. The impunity rate in these countries has also fallen by 17 percentage points to 77% since 2012.

Links:
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists

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