Annual Report 2019 Join us in defending journalists worldwide @ PressFreedom @ CommitteeToProtectJournalists @ CommitteeToProtectJournalists cpj.org/donate To make a gift to CPJ or to find out about other ways to support our work, please contact us at
[email protected] or (212) 465-1004 Cover: Journalists run over a burning barricade during a protest against election results in Madagascar in January. AFP/Mamyrael Committee to Protect Journalists Annual Report 2019 | 1 A photographer takes pictures of Libyan fighters in Tripoli in May. AFP/Mahmud Turkia At least 129 journalists have lost their lives in Syria since its brutal civil war began in 2011. Most were caught in crossfire while covering a war that has inflicted unimaginable devastation and displaced mil- lions. Since CPJ began keeping records, only in Iraq have more journalists perished. Wartime has become deadlier than ever for journalists. So when our Beirut-based representative began receiving pleas for help in the summer of 2018, we knew we had to act. Rebel strongholds were falling to President Bashar al-Assad’s army, and many journalists believed arrest, torture, and death were on the way. They needed to get out of Syria. What unfolded over the next year was an unprecedented effort to win safe passage and refuge for 69 Syrian journalists and their families, an effort we kept quiet until now to protect the journalists and delicate negotiations. The assignment was difficult and emotionally intense for the dedicated CPJ team that carried it out. Few countries were inclined to accept more Syrian refugees. It goes without saying that logistics were tough.