RSF urges journalist safeguards after Kinshasa report briefing

Reporters Without Borders on Monday presented its new Great Lakes press freedom report to DRC Communication Minister Patrick Muyaya in Kinshasa, using the meeting to press for stronger protections for journalists and quicker responses to abuses against the media.

According to the report, RSF is calling on states in the region to establish early warning mechanisms, strengthen support systems for media workers and ensure investigations are opened when journalists are attacked.

The organization says the findings focus on the daily reality faced by reporters working in a region marked by political instability, armed conflict and economic pressure on independent media.

The new study covers the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, and gives particular attention to eastern DRC, where journalists operate under persistent security threats.

RSF says the DRC accounts for more than half of the journalists arrested in the Great Lakes region over the past decade, underlining how conflict and political pressure continue to weigh on reporting conditions.

During the Kinshasa meeting, Jeanne Lagarde, RSF’s advocacy officer for Sub-Saharan Africa, presented the group’s recommendations to Congolese authorities, while Journalists in Danger renewed its warning that impunity remains a central driver of serious attacks on press freedom.

The push comes as media watchdogs and regional observers continue to flag worsening conditions for reporters covering insecurity in the eastern DRC.