The BH Journalists Association (BHJA) organized a gathering in Sarajevo in front of the Eternal Fire to light candles and honor the murdered colleagues in the Gaza Strip.

Media professionals from Banja Luka, Zenica and Tuzla  also jointed to journalists in Sarajevo in  in organizing commemorative events and lighting candles in memory of colleagues killed in Gaza. The message was unique: “Journalism is not a crime! Journalism is a public good, and the killing of journalists in Gaza is unacceptable”.

Borka Rudić, BHJA Secretary General, reminded that according to the International Federation of Journalists – IFJ,  at least 99 journalists have been killed since October 7, 2023.  until today. Most of the allegations are made by Palestinian journalists, 92 of them. Also, four Israeli and three Lebanese journalists lost their lives while performing their work.

“During the four years war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 80 journalists were killed, and in four months of war in the Gaza Strip, many more. So let’s send a message to everyone, above all to international organizations, that they must not watch what is happening to journalists in Gaza without any reaction. They must work out their tactics, apply the rules of international humanitarian law and protect our colleagues who, risking their lives, are trying to convey the truth about what is happening in the Gaza Strip”, said Rudić.

Journalists from the Banja Luka media gathered at Trg Krajine and reminded them of the importance of protecting journalists reporting from war zones.

“International organizations and institutions are not doing enough to protect our colleagues so that they can work, live and report from the Gaza Strip. It is thanks to those brave journalists that the world learns the extent of the destruction and destruction and what is actually happening in the Gaza Strip,” said Siniša Vukelić, president of the BHJA Journalists’ Club of Banjaluka, who believes that journalists are not sufficiently protected.

Journalists from Zenica, gathered at a joint meeting in memory of the murdered colleagues from Gaza, said that it is unacceptable to kill journalists and media professionals while on duty.

“This is the least we can do to remember all the colleagues and media professionals in the Gaza Strip who are no longer alive. This way, we want to send a clear message that killing journalists is unacceptable”, said Velida Kulenović, president of the BHJA Journalists´ Club of the Zenica-Doboj Canton and a journalist of the Federal Radio.

Journalists from the Tuzla Canton said that the war must stop as soon as possible and that it must be known who is guilty of the crimes.

“They lost their lives in the desire and intention to fulfill their professional task, i.e. to convey to the world what is actually happening there. Many died practically during filming, some with their families. We witnessed that entire families of certain colleagues were killed”, said Marko Divković,  BHJA President.

Media professionals agree and the message is clear: journalists, videographers, photojournalists and freelancers must have international protection during reporting from wartime Gaza, and all those behind the murders of journalists must be prosecuted and punished.

Journalists from different Bosnian cities supported and  joined in the campaign to protect all journalists and media reporting from the Gaza Strip, which was organized by the International Federation of Journalists – IFJ, the National Trade Union of Journalists of Great Britain and the Palestine Journalists Trade Union.

FOTO: BH journalists