CPJ submits report to UN ahead of Lebanon’s human rights review

The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a 10-page report to the United Nations Human Rights Council detailing the alarming decline of press freedom in Lebanon, ahead of the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session this month.

The UPR, a UN mechanism that reviews each member state’s human rights record every 4 ½ years, assesses progress made since the previous review cycle and issues recommendations on how governments can better meet their human rights obligations. 

CPJ’s report, filed under the UN deadline in July and therefore not covering subsequent events, documents a pattern of deliberate attacks by Israel against media professionals during the 2023–2024 escalation in southern Lebanon, and the persistent impunity in crimes against journalists.

It also examines the May 2025 draft Media Law and flags the unlawful summoning, intimidation, and arbitrary detention of journalists by security agencies and the judiciary, physical attacks, and harassment of journalists.

CPJ’s UPR submission on Lebanon is available in English here.