Show All

Four Syrian Rights Defenders Abducted

Award-winning writer Razan Zaitouneh, her husband and two colleagues snatched by unknown attackers.

Activists in Raqqa Face Daily Threats

First government forces, now hardline Islamists intimidate, assault and abduct civil society activists.

Cyber Security: Internet Access in Public Places

Short animated film from CyberArabs.

Nefta, an oasis town close to Tunisia's western border with Algeria. (Photo: Tico/Wikimedia Commons)

Smuggling Flourishes in Tunisia

Customs service lacks the manpower, vehicles and helicopters it would need to stem the flow of consumer goods, arms and drugs.

Hanadi Zahlout receives the Human Rights Defender Award from Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns, November 15, 2013. (Photo: US State Department)

Prestigious Award for Syrian Activist Hanadi Zahlout

"A powerful symbol of both what is possible and what is necessary for Syria’s future."

Kazak Authorities Seek Return of Syria Fighters

Footage appearing to show Kazaks with hard-line Islamist rebels causes shockwaves back home.

Drugs to Suit All Tastes in Tunisia

Homegrown marijuana on the illicit market alongside narcotics imported by trafficking networks.

Syrian Christian Village Debates Taking up Arms

Caught between rebel and government forces, villagers fear attack from either.

Iraq: Waiting for Salvation Day

Continuing conflict keeps many focused on emigration.

Global Voices: Middle East & North Africa

The sister of Aurelio Cruz López holds a sign used in the search for the young man, who disappeared along the U.S.-Mexico border. © Andrea Godínez

Araceli cries while talking about her brother who disappeared along the border and whose remains were repatriated. © Andrea Godínez

Cecilia Delgado Grijalva is a buscadora (name adopted by mothers and relatives of missing persons who are devoted to finding the remains of their loves ones) and founder of Buscadoras por la Paz (Searchers for Peace), in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. © Andrea Godínez

A search for family members gone missing in Sonora, Mexico. © Andrea Godínez

The portion of Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson, Arizona where deceased migrants whose remains are not claimed by their families are buried. © © Andrea Godínez

Gene Hernández, forensic examiner at the Pima County morgue, inside the trailer that holds the remains of migrants who perished along the border. © Andrea Godínez

Gene Hernández, a forensic medical investigator in Pima County, holds the skull of a deceased migrant. © Andrea Godínez

Román Coc holds photos of his daughter Laura, who disappeared in the Arizona desert 13 years ago. © Andrea Godínez

A photograph shows Laura Coc (far right), a young woman from Guatemala, posing during a beauty pageant. © Andrea Godínez

There are no statistics on cases of femicide - the killing of women on the grounds of hatred of women, with the acquiescence of the state - in Uzbekistan.

Artwork by Mays Al-Saray.

'Hope of Mother', an organization led by Lisbeth Surita, has registered 48 cases of Venezuelans missing in the border regions.

FOCUS

IWPR Women’s Prize for Journalism

IWPR’s inaugural award for outstanding journalism recognises the work of our network of women reporters worldwide. Working in often challenging environments, these journalists face additional threats such as harassment, gender-based violence and systemic misogyny.

SPOTLIGHT

World Press Freedom Day 2024

On World Press Freedom Day we focus on local journalists facing myriad challenges in the tireless pursuit of truth and their enduring efforts to bring meaningful change.

Journalists rush for cover inside a hospital in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on June 19, 2023 amid an Israeli army raid. Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank killed three Palestinians, in a raid that saw seven Israeli security personnel wounded and rare helicopter fire as the army said it pursued "wanted suspects". © RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

Journalists visit the site of a destroyed Russian munitions depot in Biskvitne, Ukraine to the east of Kharkiv. © John Moore/Getty Images

A TV journalist prepares to do a piece to camera in front of an armoured personnel carrier on the frontline between Ukrainian forces and pro Russian separatists near the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve, in the Donetsk region on 24, 2014. © SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images

An Israeli soldier takes aim from behind a wall as journalists cover their patrol in the Jenin refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank on November 29, 2023, during an ongoing military operation in the camp. © © Zain Jaafar/AFP

Samson Wire, a photographer and Boniface Okendo, a videographer at Standard Group, a leading multi-media house in Kenya. Kenyan journalists are warning of escalating tensions and violence amid rising threats to press freedom © Francis Odee

A man carries items on a bicycle while walking next to a woman as people remove possessions and inspect their homes following Israeli airstrikes on April 13, 2024 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. © Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

Former female radio presenter Marya Sultani during an interview with AFP at radio station Urooj in Farah province on October 10, 2021. Radio station Urooj once teamed with journalists producing news bulletins, but since the Taliban came to town, Ebrahim Parhar sits alone, broadcasting hours of religious sermons. © AFP via Getty Images

A Guatemalan journalist protests against the arrest of Jose Ruben Zamora, president of the newspaper El Periodico, outside the Justice Palace in Guatemala City, on July 30, 2022. © JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images

In this picture taken on September 8, 2021, Afghan newspaper Etilaat Roz journalists Nematullah Naqdi (R) and Taqi Daryabi sit in their office after being released from Taliban custody in Kabul. - Two Afghan journalists have shown off ugly welts and bruises after being beaten and detained for hours by Taliban fighters for covering a protest in the Afghan capital. © WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images

A news anchor waits for a broadcast as another 13 Israeli hostages are released from Gaza and brought back to Israel, during the third day of the temporary truce, outside The Museum of Modern Art known as the 'The Hostages and Missing Square' on November 25, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel. © Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Moldova blocked access to more than 20 Russian media websites in October of last year, including Russia Today, saying they had been used as part of an information war against the country. © Misha Friedman/Getty Images

Graffiti on Haaret's office, Tel Aviv, March 27, 2024. From left to right: "The law and Torah study or the death penalty for all of us," "The shills of Amalek (the existential Biblical enemy of the Jewish people), "Israel's al-Jazeera". © Haaretz

Journalists of Radio Liberty (Azattyk Ynalgysy) work in the bureau in Bishkek on April 28, 2023. - A court in Russia-allied Kyrgyzstan on April 27, 2023 ordered the closure of the local branch of US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which criticised the "outrageous" ruling. Award-winning Radio Azattyk is a prominent outlet in the Central Asian country that regularly reports on opposition groups and investigates alleged corruption. © VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP via Getty Images

IN THIS ISSUE

↓	Comment: The Courage of Local Voices
↓	Gaza: “Everyone Has a Family in Danger”
↓	Israel’s Media Blindness Over Gaza
↓	Ukraine’s Information Vacuum
↓	Afghanistan: Journalism Amid the Darkness
↓	Comment: Latin America: Journalism Continues to Hold Power to Account
↓	Pressure Builds on Central Asia Media
↓	Moldova Struggles to Balance Security and Free Speech
↓	Press Freedom Struggles in Kenya