In 2023, the Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) monitored a total of 71 distressing violations against journalists,
including arrests, enforced disappearances, physical and psychological assaults, trials, summons, threats, torture, and various other transgressions. This report analyses these alarming incidents, shedding light on the dangerous evolving context for press freedom in Yemen.
While officially, the number of reported violations has decreased, this is not an accurate indication of the current Yemeni context.
Instead, the decrease in the number of reported journalist violations in 2022 and 2023 is reflective of the warring factions' increased control over media and press freedom. Excessive control has led to the closure of all private and independent media offices, and particularly, outlets operating prior to the Houthi militia coup in September 2014.
In the aftermath of the coup, significant number of journalists lost their jobs and were forced to flee and emigrate.
Over the course of this relentless nine-year war, journalists have worked in increasingly unsafe conditions marked by threat of killing, torture, and forced disappearance. The gravity of the situation has contributed to a significant decline in media freedom, a setback that harkens back decades.
The report moves beyond metrics to provide a nuanced understanding of the current restrictive environment for journalistic work, and underscores the complex challenges and dangers encountered by journalists.
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