Members of the SafeJournalists network launched the campaign #DoNotHesitateReport on Thursday to encourage journalists to report all types of attacks related to their work, the Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) said in a press release.

The campaign was launched on the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which is marked on 2 November.

Journalists are exposed to threats and attacks because of their work, and due to the small number of solved cases, they are often reluctant to report the incidents, the HND said.

As part of the campaign, journalists from Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will be able to report attacks on the SafeJournalists.net website.

“Although in the past a small number of cases has been legally ended with convictions, it is very important that journalists are not discouraged and that they continue to report all attacks to the competent institutions and journalists’ associations because that is the only way to fight for a better and safer environment,” the HND said.

In the last 30 years, 110 local journalists were killed in war in the Western Balkans and another five were killed in peacetime. Only two cases were resolved by a final verdict.

The SafeJournalists network called on the competent authorities to take the necessary measures in order to process cases more efficiently and swiftly and thus show readiness in the fight against impunity.

Journalists face threats to their safety around the world. In early October, the Council of Europe launched a continent-wide campaign under the slogan “Journalists matter” to improve the safety conditions that journalists work in across Europe, notably through the adoption and implementation of national action plans for the protection of journalists.

The campaign’s key objectives are setting up effective remedies at national level to address violations of media freedom, improving the investigation of crimes against journalists, and ensuring the proper sanctioning of perpetrators.