The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) marked World Press Freedom Day at a small closed event in Lebanon with prominent human rights defenders and lawyers from the region, including Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen and Egypt. The event was overshadowed by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has led to around 100 Palestinian journalists and three Lebanese journalists being killed, and many more journalists injured.
“At a time that is very difficult for many of our region’s citizens, whether in Palestine, or other parts of the Middle East, we came together to mark World Press Freedom Day,” said GCHR’s Executive Director Khalid Ibrahim.
Prominent Egyptian lawyer Gamal Eid has suffered harassment including travel ban, which was only lifted after eight years. He mentioned 320 journalists documented in prison in 2023 by the Committee to Protect Journalists, with more than one-third from the MENA region. Of those, 13 are from Egypt. He added the following, “There is not any freedom of the press in our region, and surveillance on social media networks also puts our freedom at risk.” He mentions the surveillance and lack of press freedom in UAE. In Egypt, there are only two independent media online and they are both blocked online to the public. The judiciary is also not independent, so that further restricts media freedom. He believes however that “it’s possible to reform the judiciary in ten years and create a new generation of independent journalists.”
Michella Nehme, a young Lebanese lawyer, said that freedom of expression is protected under the Constitution in Lebanon, but the media suffers from attacks from various parties. The state of Lebanon does not always protect the media according to the law, and people suffer reprisals for using social media networks to express their views on public affairs.
Abeer Mohsen, who’s a journalist from Yemen, said that it is a shame that we can’t have a public meeting. She said, year after year, the human rights situation has deteriorated further in our region. Many human rights defenders and journalists in our region are in prison. She added, “Those who are in prison tried to deliver truth to the nation.” Mohsen also said that in 2021, the number of detained journalists in Yemen has increased by 20%, to reach 488 journalists, including 60 women. She said, “Women journalists are particularly at risk,” and explained that it’s difficult for women to move in Yemen due to guardianship rules, that impact women journalists. They could face imprisonment or torture in Yemen. She concluded, “There are no independent media in Yemen.”
World Press Freedom Day is marked every year by UNESCO and human rights groups including GCHR. This year, Palestinian journalists covering the Gaza war have been named as laureates of the 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The award was given to them during UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Conference in Santiago, Chile.
The main theme of the World Press Freedom Day for this year is the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the climate crisis. In 2023, GCHR worked with a coalition of human rights and environmental groups in Iraq to create a campaign to highlight the impact of climate change on the region, and the threats to environmental activists and those covering climate change, which has cause increased hardship to the population.
