‘Without journalists, war crimes remain unwritten’

A tiny structure held up by flimsy tarpaulin stands alone, surrounded by bloodied and tattered bluish helmets and vests with the connection “PRESS” marked crossed them. Smashed cellphones, laptops and camcorders, and debris prevarication scattered astir it successful what could beryllium a country from a warzone.

But this is not a warzone. It is an installation mounting the country for a two-day conference organised by Al Jazeera, which began connected Wednesday to item the unspeakable dangers faced by journalists moving successful equipped conflicts.

The installation has been positioned successful beforehand of the angular league hallway of the Sheraton Grand hotel, a brutalist gathering that stands successful Doha’s upscale West Bay neighbourhood.

Inside, an LCD surface is playing footage of Al Jazeera’s journalists wearing those bluish vests and jackets, reporting successful Gaza. It past cuts to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu patting an Israeli subject worker connected the backmost earlier footage of protesters carrying Palestine flags and posters calling Netanyahu a warfare criminal.

To the broadside of the hall, a sheet listing the names and pictures of Al Jazeera’s journalists who person been injured oregon killed portion reporting connected Israel’s warfare successful Gaza, implicit which Hamas and Israel person present agreed to the first signifier of a bid process, appears. The sheet is horrifyingly long, spanning the full magnitude of the hall.

Most recently, Al Jazeera writer Anas al-Sharif was deliberately killed by an Israeli onslaught connected a structure lodging journalists successful Gaza City connected August 10. That battle besides killed an Al Jazeera correspondent, 2 Al Jazeera camera operators, a freelance cameraman and a freelance journalist.

The installation extracurricular the Doha league connected Wednesday [Sarah Shamim/Al Jazeera]

Opposite, connected the different broadside of the hall, different sheet displays the names and pictures of Al Jazeera’s journalists who person been killed portion reporting connected struggle each implicit the world, including Rasheed Wali, who was killed successful Iraq successful 2004 portion covering clashes successful the metropolis of Karbala; and Mohammad al-Masalmeh, killed successful Deraa, Syria successful 2013 portion covering the civilian war.

It is simply a achy reminder that the warfare connected Gaza, successful which astir 300 journalists and media workers person been killed, according to the Shireen Abu Akleh Observatory – including 10 from Al Jazeera – is nary isolated lawsuit of journalists losing their lives portion reporting successful struggle zones.

A sheet showing Al Jazeera journalists killed successful struggle zones earlier Gaza [Maha Elbardani/Al Jazeera]

Gaza has marked a turning constituent for journalists, however, Louise Alluin Bichet, manager of projects and exigency effect astatine Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told the league connected Wednesday.

While reporters erstwhile relied connected the sorts of bulletproof vests seen strewn astatine the entranceway to the league to shield them from accidental injury, arsenic they performed their jobs amidst and connected the sidelines of conflict, she said, they are present being deliberately targeted.

“It does not substance what benignant of assemblage armour you’re wearing.”

As Maryam bint Abdullah Al-Attiyah, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), highlighted, planetary instrumentality has been flouted successful the Gaza warfare and “journalists person been targeted and killed.”

The installation depicted the world for galore journalists successful Gaza [Maha Elbardani/Al Jazeera]

Journalists nether fire

Al Jazeera Arabic anchor M’hamed Krichen opened the league connected Wednesday with a video of fume billowing successful Gaza arsenic journalists travel nether attack.

“The journalists became quality themselves,” Krichen said arsenic an representation of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, writhing successful symptom aft an onslaught played retired connected the screen. Dahdouh has mislaid galore household members successful Gaza, including his woman and respective of his children.

The video past chopped to footage of Samer Abudaqa, an Al Jazeera cameraman killed successful an Israeli onslaught successful December 2023 successful confederate Gaza’s Khan Younis. Krichen told the assemblage that Abu Daqqa had bled for six hours portion Israeli forces prevented an ambulance from reaching him.

“Al Jazeera has said goodbye to galore of its sons,” Krichen said.

As journalists travel progressively nether fire, the recently appointed manager wide of Al Jazeera Media Network, Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani, told the league their information indispensable beryllium the overriding precedence for each quality organisations.

“Otherwise, warfare crimes volition stay unwritten,” helium said. “Protecting journalists is extortion of the information itself.”

A witnesser and a victim

Wael Dahdouh was 1 of Al Jazeera’s astir salient correspondents during the earlier stages of the war. He has been earnestly injured and has lost adjacent relatives during the people of the war, and was evacuated to Qatar successful December 2023 to person attraction for an injury.

He describes what has been taking spot successful Gaza arsenic a “total genocide”.

On October 25, 2023, an Israeli aerial onslaught targeted a location successful the cardinal Gaza Strip wherever Dahdouh’s household had taken structure portion helium was reporting connected the war. Several adjacent household members, including his wife, son, girl and grandson, were killed.

“Journalists are being killed and genocide is being committed against them,” Dahdouh told the conference, gesticulating heavy with his near hand, arsenic his close manus is inactive recovering from a superior injury.

Dahdouh told the assemblage that reporting connected a warfare which has had specified devastating idiosyncratic consequences has been a large situation for each journalists successful Gaza.

“When your household is dead, chopped into pieces earlier you … determination is simply a volcano wrong of you. You privation to fight, but you stay nonrecreational and you proceed your work,” helium said.

After helium buried his woman and children, helium told his lad and daughter, who had been injured: “I americium going backmost to Gaza (City) to proceed my work. What bash you privation to do?”

“We volition travel with you. Either we dice unneurotic oregon unrecorded together,” they said.

Then calamity struck again. Dahdouh’s eldest son, Hamza Dahdouh, 27, besides a journalist, was killed by an Israeli rocket onslaught successful occidental Khan Younis successful January 2024.

Journalists successful Lebanon, wherever Israel launched large attacks during the 2nd fractional of 2024 – to people members of Hezbollah, it said – and killed astatine slightest 1,000 people, person besides faced this dilemma.

Nakhle Odaime, quality analogous and presenter astatine MTV Lebanon, besides chose to proceed reporting contempt coming nether fire.

“I recorded a video due to the fact that I thought it mightiness beryllium the past video I’ll record. The dependable of the information should scope the audiences,” helium told the conference.

‘If we don’t determination now, time volition beryllium worse’

While journalists are treated the aforesaid arsenic civilians nether planetary instrumentality – they are ne'er morganatic targets successful a warfare – determination is 1 main quality betwixt the two.

“The civilian tin spell distant from the combat field, but the writer has to stay,” said Omar Mekky, the determination ineligible coordinator for the Near and Middle East portion for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “To assimilate the warfare writer with the civilian is not right.”

The extortion of journalists successful warfare zones indispensable beryllium specifically enshrined successful planetary law, therefore, helium and others – including Fadi El Abdallah, caput of nationalist affairs astatine the International Criminal Court (ICC) – told the conference.

It is besides indispensable to grow the explanation of “journalist” successful the epoch of societal media, Mekky said. “Anyone who has entree to these resources is simply a journalist,” helium added, referring to those utilizing phones and societal media to broadcast quality of the war.

Omar Mekky addresses the assemblage [Maha Elbardani/Al Jazeera]

Female journalists, who endure antithetic forms of unit portion reporting successful struggle zones, indispensable besides beryllium afforded peculiar protections, said Renaud Gaudin de Villaine, a quality rights serviceman astatine the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Ultimately, however, nary of this volition beryllium imaginable without the governmental volition of states, said Bichet from RSF. “The backup needs to travel from each the states that person the powerfulness to enactment pressure.”

Time is of the essence, said Doja Daoud, determination programme coordinator astatine the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

“If we don’t determination now, time volition beryllium adjacent worse.”