The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), has submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council documenting persistent threats to press freedom in Syria, ahead of the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
The UPR, a UN mechanism that reviews each member state’s human rights record every 4½ years, assesses progress made since the previous review cycle and issues recommendations on how governments can better meet their human rights obligations.
The joint report finds that, despite notable improvements following the December 2024 fall of the Assad regime — including constitutional guarantees for freedom of expression and the press, greater freedom of movement for journalists, and the abolition of Syria’s counter-terrorism courts — serious threats to press freedom persist under the transitional authorities and other armed actors operating in Syria.
It documents the killings of journalists, physical attacks, harassment, and intimidation by Israeli, Turkish and Turkish-backed, and Russian forces, arbitrary and incommunicado detention and enforced disappearances, censorship, and restrictions on media access and accreditation, alongside the continued risk that unrepealed counter-terrorism and cybercrime laws may be used to criminalize journalism.
The submission also highlights the near-total absence of effective investigations and accountability for attacks against journalists. It calls on the transitional Syrian authorities to investigate the killings of and attacks on journalists, release those held arbitrarily, clarify the fate and legal status of detained and missing media workers, repeal provisions that criminalize journalistic expression, and adopt a new media law in consultation with journalists and civil society.
CPJ and SCM’s joint UPR submission on Syria is available in English here.