The Union of Journalists in Lebanon – UJLeb submitted an Urgent Motion to The Centenary Congress of the International Federation of Journalists- IFJ, which was held in Paris from 5th to 7th May 2026, regarding holding Israel accountable for war crimes against journalists in Lebanon.
The motion was unanimously accepted and includes the following:
– A request to the IFJ Executive Committee to address a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Rights Council, at its June 2026 session, to assign an independent and impartial commission of inquiry into the killing of journalists and media workers in Lebanon from October 13, 2023, until the end of hostilities.
– A request to the IFJ Executive Committee to address, in coordination with UJLeb, a letter to the Lebanese authorities, inviting them to conduct official and transparent investigations into the killing of journalists, as a crucial step enabling journalists and their families to exercise their legal rights.
– An appeal to IFJ-affiliated unions and associations to support the Union of Journalists in Lebanon in its legal endeavors aimed at prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes against journalists before the national courts of states applying the principle of universal jurisdiction, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationality of the suspects.
UJLeb president Elsy Moufarrej said before the congress that “justice delayed is impunity rewarded. And impunity kills journalists again and again”, referring to Israel’s impunity for killing and targeting journalists in Lebanon.
She said that “One colleague told me he avoids wearing his press vest whenever he can, because its weight is no longer physical, but psychological”, “Journalists in Lebanon carry fear and trauma into every assignment” she added.
Moufarrej warned that “this is the reality of journalism in Lebanon, in Gaza, and across our region, where Israel has killed 277 journalists in three years. This is not accidental or isolated — it is a deliberate pattern of targeting journalists and silencing the truth with impunity”.