RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
12/12/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/12/2025 07:13
RSF joins JED in urgently calling for the protection of journalists in eastern DRC
More than half of the journalists killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the last 30 years have died in the east of the country, revealed a recent report by Journalists in Danger (JED). To mark the publication of the report which documents violence against journalists particularly in the eastern provinces, RSF joined JED in calling for urgent protection of the press, especially in this region.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the most dangerous countries on the continent for journalists, primarily due to the ongoing conflict in the east of the country. The findings of the annual report published on 22 November by JED - an RSF partner organisation in the Congo - titled "Eastern DRC: Crimes Committed Against the Press," leave no room for doubt.
"The JED report sounds the alarm. With its staggering figures, this report reveals a persistent impunity that the authorities must end. More than half of the journalists killed in the DRC over the last 30 years have been killed in the eastern regions of the country, and the investigations announced in their wake either never took place or failed to identify the perpetrators or their motives. Our NGO joins JED in calling for the urgent protection of journalists in the east of the country: any solution to this crisis must absolutely take into account the protection and respect for the right to information. This right can only be guaranteed by putting an end to attacks against journalists.
Sadibou Marong
Director, RSF Sub-Saharan Africa
In the east of the country, occupied by the Congolese paramilitary group, M23, journalists are targeted for their reporting with murders, kidnappings, arbitrary arrests, detentions, assaults, direct threats, and theft of equipment. As are media outlets, with dozens of instances of looting.
Many community radio stations, key sources of local information, have been silenced. A huge number of journalists have been forced to flee, go underground, and abandon their work, leaving an information void behind them. This report gathers testimonies from journalists who have had to flee the fighting and notably gives a platform to Jacques Vagheni, coordinator of the North Kivu Community Radio and Television Collective (CORACON): "In the area controlled by the AFC/M23, even though the rebels have not formally prohibited news coverage, journalists operate under significant self-censorship for fear of being targeted. [...] In the area controlled by the government, the situation is no better. Journalists continue to be persecuted."
JED and RSF are calling for sweeping reforms to guarantee press freedom, including decriminalising press offenses, ending arbitrary arrests and suspensions of media outlets, establishing a national mechanism to protect journalists, and reopening investigations into unpunished murders.
The DRC has fallen ten places compared to last year in RSF's 2025 World Press Freedom Indexand now ranks 133rd out of 180 countries and territories.
Published on12.12.2025
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