THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
PHOTO: The flag of Ukraine, signed by journalists from Izium, Kramatorsk, Sloviyansk, Kyiv, and Kharkiv, was handed over by NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko to the headquarters of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) during the EFJ Annual Meeting in Pristina
Informing international partners about violations of the rights of media workers is one of the important priorities in the work of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). The world must know about the actions of the occupiers, who are trying to prevent truthful coverage of events in our country through bans, kidnappings, threats to life, and intimidation.
Throughout 2024, the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, and the First Secretary of the Union, Lina Kushch, continued to actively inform the international community about the violations of the rights of Ukrainian media workers, especially in the context of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into the territory of Ukraine.
“Shelter or helmet were the words almost unused by Ukrainian journalists before the start of the full-scale invasion. But now, these words have entered everyday use. And, unfortunately, there is no safe place in Ukraine that would not be under threat of russian attacks and shelling,” Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized, speaking in May 2024 at the Annual Meeting of the EFJ.
In November, delegates to the Congress of the German Union of Journalists, where the NUJU President was the guest of honor, were shown a video about the work of Ukrainian journalists during the war and the activities of our network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers. On the sidelines of the Congress, a NUJU photo exhibition on the work of journalists during the war was displayed.
“Moved by the reaction of German colleagues – they welcomed the Ukrainian speech standing up, admiring the courage and resilience of Ukrainian journalists,” says Sergiy Tomilenko.
At the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich and the prestigious Press Club, where he was invited by the Bavarian Federation of Journalists (BJV), the NUJU President presented the documentary called On The Edge: The Story of the Invincible Front-line Newspaper Editor, filmed by the NUJU information service.
Speaking at the Congress of the EFJ, Sergiy Tomilenko once again called on the international community to more actively protect the rights of imprisoned Ukrainian journalists.
“The NUJU demands the immediate and unconditional release of all illegally detained Ukrainian journalists,” said Sergiy Tomilenko. “Every day they are in captivity is a blow to freedom of speech and basic human rights. We call on the international community to increase pressure on the russian authorities and use all possible diplomatic channels to release our colleagues. Journalists should not be hostages in this war. Their job is to cover the truth, not suffer for it in prisons.”
At the opening of the Council of Europe campaign Journalists Matter in Ukraine, the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, once again emphasized the importance of joint steps to free Ukrainian journalists from russian captivity.
NUJU First Secretary Lina Kushch, summing up the results of her active communication with international partners, was forced to conclude that Western journalists did not suspect the risks associated with the work of Ukrainian colleagues and the complex ways in which the media convey information.
A landmark event in December 2024 was the human rights online forum Trials over Freedom of Speech in Crimea: the Price of Journalistic Work. During the event, Sergiy Tomilenko stressed the need for the immediate release of journalists illegally detained by the occupation authorities and presented the collection Trials over Freedom of Speech in Crimea: 20 Stories of Journalists, which exposes the mechanisms of repression against media workers.
Lina Kushch emphasized that the persecution of journalists in Crimea is a continuation of the aggression launched by russia back in 2014, emphasizing the need to document war crimes against journalists in order to further bring the perpetrators to justice.
The NUJU successfully implemented the Executed Free Speech project, within the framework of which more than 100 text and video testimonies about the crimes of the russian occupiers against media workers in Ukraine were collected. The collected materials were transferred to human rights organizations for use in international campaigns and legal proceedings.
The union established fruitful cooperation with the Civil Rights Defenders organization, which contributed to attracting international assistance for Ukrainian media workers. This interaction helped journalists stay in the profession, maintain the stability of the media, and adapt their work to wartime conditions.
A significant achievement of 2024 was the conclusion of a quadrilateral agreement on cooperation between the Volyn, Lviv, and Rivne regional organizations of the NUJU and the Rzeszow branch of the Association of Polish Journalists. The Volyn regional organization of the NUJU additionally signed and ratified the Memorandum of Cooperation of the Sister Cities of the Border Region for 2024-25. The Lviv regional organization concluded a separate agreement on cooperation with journalists from the Podkarpacie Voivodeship of Poland.
The Zaporizhzhia regional organization of the NUJU provided documented facts of the illegal detention of journalists in the occupied territories, in particular, the case of journalist Iryna Levchenko from Melitopol. The Donetsk regional organization prepared for international partners a thorough analytical report on the facts of journalists being forced to cooperate with the occupation authorities in Mariupol.
The Kyiv organization of the NUJU developed multi-vector cooperation with international organizations. The case of the NUJU member Volodymyr Biriukov, who witnessed another rocket attack during a live broadcast for a Latvian TV channel, gained particular resonance.
The Odesa regional organization transformed the National Language Forum Ukrainian Language – Language of Unity into an influential platform for international communication, celebrating its quarter-century anniversary. The Cherkasy regional organization ensured the active participation of journalists from the region in international projects and programs.
During 2024, the NUJU carried out consistent work to inform international partners about violations of the rights of Ukrainian media workers through various communication channels. The active international position of the Union and the coordinated work of its regional organizations significantly strengthened international support for Ukrainian journalists and increased pressure on the aggressor country to respect the rights of media workers in the occupied territories.
NUJU Information Service
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