UNESCO recorded 189 journalists killed worldwide in 2024 and 2025 and reported an impunity rate of 86%, according to a report published on Monday, 2 November 2026.
In Mali, the international day highlights the killing 13 years ago of two special envoys for Radio France Internationale (RFI), Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, for which criminal responsibility has yet to be established.
Of the journalists killed over the past two years, 127 died in conflict zones, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Fifty were killed in drone strikes across six conflict zones, illustrating the changing risks faced by media professionals.
The global impunity rate rose from 85% to 86%, marking its first increase since UNESCO began measuring the indicator in 2012. The organisation says crimes against journalists largely remain unresolved by the courts, particularly in countries affected by armed conflict.
The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, established by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2013, originated from the double killing in Kidal, north-eastern Mali, on 2 November of that year. Ghislaine Dupont, a journalist, and Claude Verlon, an RFI sound engineer, were abducted after an interview and later found dead on the outskirts of the town.
Investigation still underway
Thirteen years after the killings, the judicial investigation opened in France into abduction, unlawful detention and murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise is continuing. Several steps have been taken to obtain documents that could help establish the circumstances of the crime.
On 15 April 2026, the French National Commission for the Defence Secrecy Review issued a favourable opinion on the partial declassification of a French Defence Ministry note dated 24 April 2024. The request had been submitted by Valéry Muller, an investigating judge at the Paris Judicial Court’s counter-terrorism division.
The opinion, published in France’s Official Journal on 29 April, provides for certain restrictions to remain in place on passages and technical information. It follows three previous declassification procedures considered in 2016, 2017 and 2023.
To date, the investigation has not led to a trial that could establish the full extent of criminal responsibility for the abduction and killing of the two journalists.
Malian journalists still missing
The issue of impunity also concerns several Malian media professionals abducted in regions affected by insecurity.
Hamadoun Nialibouly, a journalist with Radio Dandé Douentza, was abducted in September 2020 in central Mali. Moussa M’Bana Dicko, head of Radio Dandé Haïré, went missing in April 2021 in the Douentza district. The exact circumstances of their abductions have not been established through judicial proceedings.
On 7 November 2023, an attack on journalists travelling along the Gao-Ansongo road killed Abdoul Aziz Djibrilla of Radio Naata. Two other media professionals, Saleck Ag Jiddou and Moustapha Koné of Radio Coton Ansongo, were abducted, while Harouna Attino of Radio Alafia was wounded.
Publicly available information has still not shed light on the fate of the missing journalists or the identities of all those responsible for these acts of violence.
In Bamako, the disappearance of journalist Birama Touré, a former contributor to the weekly newspaper Le Sphinx, also remains without a definitive judicial resolution. He was last seen on 29 January 2016.
These cases reflect a wider context in which journalists working in insecure areas face abduction, threats and difficulties accessing information.
In its report published on Monday, UNESCO called on states to strengthen investigations and prosecutions and adapt protection mechanisms to the emerging threats facing media professionals, particularly in conflict zones.
MD/te/Sf/lb/as/APA