At One Young World Summit, Aliya Ismail Speaks for WJWC, Honors Fallen Journalists

Aliya Ismail, Programs Coordinator for Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC), delivered an address at the One Young World 2025 Summit in Munich, spotlighting the dire state of press freedom in Yemen and the Arab world and honoring journalists who have been killed for their work.

The summit, a major global gathering of young leaders, provided a platform for Aliya Ismail to amplify the voices of Yemeni and Arab women journalists who, she stated, "continue to speak truth in environments where being a journalist can cost you your life."

Aliya Ismail outlined the perilous context in which WJWC was founded in 2005, describing it as a time "where journalism itself could cost a person their life." She framed the organization's mission as an act of defiance, born from the conviction that “when the truth becomes dangerous, telling it is more than a choice—it is an act of courage and resistance.”

For two decades, she noted, WJWC has worked to expose corruption, document human rights abuses, and defend journalists who risk their lives for their profession. “Defending the rights of others is not a personal interest, but a moral and humanitarian duty that defines our shared humanity,” Aliya Ismail emphasized.

Detailing the specific challenges in Yemen, Aliya Ismail explained that years of conflict and repression have “destroyed the independent press and turned media outlets into tools of political and foreign propaganda.” She expanded this critique to authoritarian regimes across the Arab region, which she accused of weaponizing laws “to criminalize awareness and silence dissent.”

This systemic repression, she argued, sustains “a culture where obedience is praised as morality, criticism is punished as crime, and silence is celebrated as patriotism. 

In a poignant moment, Aliya Ismail paid tribute to the legacies of Yemeni journalist Rasha al-Harazi and Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, affirming that their assassinations “will not silence their message—it will only carry it further.”

She then turned to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, condemning what she described as the deliberate targeting of journalists by Israeli forces.

“Between 2023 and 2025, more than 270 Palestinian journalists were killed—a figure that surpasses the total number of journalists killed in both World Wars combined,” Aliya Ismail stated. “This is not only an assault on journalists, but an attempt to erase truth itself.”

In her conclusion, Aliya Ismail issued a forceful call to action, urging a collective responsibility to defend justice and free expression globally. 

“Once the truth is seen and spoken, it compels us to act,” she declared. “The struggle for justice, wherever it may be, is not the duty of activists alone—it is a sacred moral and humanitarian duty.”