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On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2024, UNESCO and OHCHR brought together Sudanese journalists, media professionals and members of the international community to shed light on the situation in the country and call for sustained and upscaled support to the Sudanese media sector. 

The 2024 World Press Freedom Day event sought to highlight the current challenges. Opened by the directors of UNESCO and OHCHR, the online seminar hosted national media partners such as the , , and , who continue to provide support to Sudanese journalists, including journalists’ relocation, training, psychosocial support as well as training on how to report and combat hate speech and disinformation. The meeting was also attended by the Estonian Ambassador to Egypt, and the Charge d’affaires of the German Embassy to Sudan also participated in the conference, who were co-chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition, also participated in the conference.

The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate have presented a report highlighting the issues arising and the current media environment amid the eruption of conflict in Sudan over a year ago. They have stressed in their issued statements the condemning of killings targeted towards male and female journalists who have lost their lives while documenting the upscale of the war between the two parties with no intervention from authorities protecting their rights. 

Since April 2023, almost all the Sudanese media outlets have been unable to operate from within the country. The Sudanese Journalists Syndicate presented a report stating that 90% of the Sudanese media outlets have been forced to close down due to their dangerous locations near conflict zones. Their infrastructure has also either been looted or destroyed. This has led to a significant decrease in the news covered and disseminated online and offline and a rise in disinformation and hate speech campaigns.   This deterioration has led to over 1000 journalists losing their jobs, with no or limited income sources, and the rest remaining in Sudan are facing murder, violations, detention, arrests, imprisonment, vandalism, and raids of their private properties.

An initiative was presented by Radio Dabanga called the Sudan Media Forum, an effort to bring Sudanese media outlets together to strengthen independent media, information-sharing, co-production and dissemination of news in the context of the current conflict. The Forum foresees the establishment of a joint media room amplifying the voices of on-the-ground journalists, strengthen humanitarian information and reporting on human rights abuses. 

The Sudan Media Forum is seeking to develop a roadmap to media recovery once the situation on the ground allows. The call to action was informed by inputs from CFI, the French Media Development Agency, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Internews, Media in Conflict and Transition (), with contributions by UNESCO as the UN specialized agency on freedom of expression and safety of journalists. This will ensure media survival, promote the safety of journalists, counter widespread disinformation and hate speech, and provide material support on communication infrastructure.

The Syndicate called for action to address the needs of journalists in Sudan and in exile, including through the development of an International Emergency Fund to support Sudanese journalists and the media institutions. It has also stressed the need to strengthen the partnership between journalists and develop a methodology to provide online and offline safety trainings for journalists inside and outside Sudan to be able to report safely. 

After a year of countering disinformation online, Beam Reports stressed that the absence of on-the-ground reporting is leading to the increase of mis/disinformation, leaving the local populations without reliable information on the ongoing conflict. This is further amplified and complicated by the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence in the production and dissemination of disinformation and hate speech. 

UNESCO is continuously supporting the national and international media partners through its initiatives and projects under the communication and information sector to establish a safer, sustainable, and reliable media environment for the journalists, media professionals and the Sudanese community.