Published on: 2026-11-02
Source: United Nations – Объединенные Нации –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
November 2, 2026 Women
Online harassment, attacks, and the impunity of the perpetrators make the work of female journalists increasingly dangerous in crisis conditions. The UN urges urgent protection for those who report to the world about the consequences of wars.
“Every female journalist forced to leave a conflict zone is a peace process deprived of its witness,” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa said at a high-level event held at the UN during Women, Peace and Security agenda week.
The co-founder of the Philippine news outlet Rappler called on governments to move from promises to real measures to protect women working in the media. According to her, attacks on women are “sexualized, humiliating, and do not stop for a minute.”
On the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed on November 2, UNESCO is launching a new campaign “Threats Change, Impunity Remains” and presenting new data on the safety of media workers.
AI in the service of bullying
Ressa herself experienced arrest, legal persecution, and years of online harassment. She said that intimidation undermines trust in journalists and their self-confidence, threatens their safety, and ultimately can discourage them from continuing their work.
At the peak of attacks, Ressa received 90 full-of-hatred messages per hour. Intimidation campaigns demonstrate how attacks on women are used to discredit those who challenge power. “Kill the messenger to kill the message,” Ressa described this tactic.
© UNICEF/A. Filippov Women report that they have become victims of online violence.
Artificial intelligence makes the threat even more serious: it is used to widely spread deepfakes, fake sexual images, cloned voices, and coordinated attacks.
According to UN Women, almost one in four human rights defenders, activists, and journalists have faced harassment using AI. At the same time, digital attacks can eventually escalate into physical violence. Research shows that online attacks, previously considered a “virtual” problem, increasingly spill over into real life. They threaten the safety and well-being of women and hinder their free participation in public discussions.
Ressa called for recognizing violence on the internet as real violence. She emphasized that both the perpetrators themselves and the technological companies that facilitate the spread of harassment must be held accountable.
“The moment has come”
Ressa recalled Georgian journalist Mziya Amaglobeli, who is still in custody. Unable to speak freely in court, Amaglobeli raised in the courtroom the book “How to Defeat a Dictator” written by Ressa.
“From her cell, she called out: fight while it’s still not too late,” Ressa said. According to her, that moment has come.
Ressa called on journalists, civil society, governments, and international organizations to join forces against a system in which attacks on female journalists go unpunished.
“We refuse to be victims,” she said. “The women gathered here have turned the attacks into a story they told the world. And every time one of us dared to speak out, others stood alongside. Courage is contagious. But courage is not a defense strategy. Protection can be provided by United Nations member states.”
Voices of Afghan women
For Afghan journalist and media entrepreneur Hamida Aman, protecting female journalists is an opportunity to prevent millions of women from being completely erased from social life.
In March 2021, Aman launched Begum radio so that Afghan women could share their experiences and receive the information they needed. After the Taliban came to power, working will become difficult, if not impossible.
© S. Caligaro Begum stations were threatened, temporarily closed, and some employees spent more than six months behind bars.
According to the International Federation of Journalists, cited by Aman, the number of female journalists in Afghanistan decreased from approximately 2,800 before the Taliban came to power to less than 700.
“Getting permission to work does not yet mean freedom to work,” she said, describing the oversight and bureaucratic barriers faced by radio Begum. The station was threatened, temporarily shut down, and some employees spent more than six months behind bars.
“If these female journalists disappear, who will talk about the lives of Afghan women? Who will carry their voice?” asked Aman.
Scope of the problem
According to a recent study by the UN Women and UNESCO structures, 75 percent of the surveyed female journalists experienced online violence, and 42 percent linked online attacks to harassment or attacks in real life. In 2020, this figure was 20 percent.
From 2013 to 2023, the number of materials about conflicts grew more than sixfold, but only 5 percent of them were dedicated to women’s experiences in war. Women playing a leading role in peace processes were mentioned in just 0.04 percent of publications. “We are not invisible,” said Ressa.
Photo UNICEF/D. Sanchez A young resident of Zhytomyr, Ukraine, against the background of a destroyed school building.
The Director of UNESCO’s Gender Equality Department, Begonya Lasagabaster, reminded about the exhibition “They Told the World About It,” dedicated to almost 200 female journalists from more than 25 countries who covered the Spanish Civil War 90 years ago.
“While most of the world was counting battles, these women were counting lives. They wrote about hunger, about refugees, about what war does to a mother, a father, a child, a city, a country,” Lasagabaster said. According to her, they changed the way the world viewed war.
The protection of female journalists is not only a matter of their personal safety. It is also a matter of whose experience of war will be documented, whose voices will influence society’s perceptions, and whose contribution to peace will be recognized.
From promises to actions
“When female journalists are silenced, the women they report on also fall silent,” noted Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of the “UN Women” entity. “Therefore, this is not only about silencing journalists, but also our shared history.”
According to her, women in conflict zones are often portrayed solely as victims, although they prevent violence, settle disputes, support communities, and rebuild countries. When their experiences are not written about, society sees only part of the reality of war – “half the picture of the world.”
International mechanisms for protecting journalists already exist. Yet female journalists still face physical violence, legal persecution, psychological trauma, and smear campaigns.
“Every voice for peace is important,” Ressa said. “But only when it is heard and when the woman who dared to speak remains alive.”
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