On 28 July 1951, the UK was one of 11 founding signatories to the UN Refugee Convention – the charter which has protected millions forced to flee persecution. 75 years on, that protection has never been more important for journalists.
For freelancers, exile is no longer an exceptional consequence of reporting the truth. It is increasingly becoming part of the job. Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, the number of countries from which freelance journalists have sought support has doubled. Today, forced displacement is the single biggest reason journalists seek assistance from the Rory Peck Trust. Freelancers from Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan now make up a growing proportion of those we support.
Unlike staff journalists, they don’t have an employer to arrange an evacuation, provide legal advice or continue paying a salary while they rebuild their lives. When they flee, they often do so alone. They must navigate asylum systems, secure visas and prove their professional status without the backing of a recognised news organisation. At precisely the moment they are most vulnerable, they are also the most unsupported.
Anosha knows this all too well. She fled Afghanistan after receiving repeated threats from the Taliban because of her reporting on women’s rights and human rights. Age 25, now living in Pakistan, she received support from the Rory Peck Trust to cover essential living costs and move to safer accommodation, enabling her to continue reporting from exile.
However, crossing a border rarely ends the danger. Authoritarian governments increasingly extend their reach beyond their own frontiers, intimidating, surveilling and threatening journalists who continue reporting from abroad. Repressive laws, including so-called ‘foreign agent’ legislation, are being used to criminalise independent journalism, even in exile. Alongside these threats come the daily realities of displacement: uncertain immigration status, financial hardship, language barriers and separation from the sources, colleagues and communities that made reporting possible.
Albert is an investigative journalist specialising in organised crime and human rights abuses in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He was forced to flee after M23 rebels targeted him and threatened his family. The Rory Peck Trust helped him relocate to neighbouring Burundi and replace equipment destroyed during the attack. “I feel relieved,” he says. “I feel better now and am able to continue my work remotely.”
His experience is increasingly common. Many journalists continue reporting on their home countries from exile because the story does not become less important simply because the reporter has crossed a border. If anything, the need for trusted reporting often becomes even greater.
It is why, from September, we are launching the Rory Peck Scholarship. In partnership with City St George’s, University of London, the scholarship will fund one journalist in exile to study for a Master’s degree in International Journalism, helping them rebuild a professional future, expand their networks and continue their reporting far from home.
“Independent journalism is one of our strongest defences against disinformation and propaganda.” says Jon Williams, Executive Director of the Rory Peck Trust. “Supporting journalists-in-exile is not simply a humanitarian responsibility, it is an investment in the future of truth itself. Because when independent journalists are forced into silence, we all lose access to the facts that help us understand the world.”
75 years ago, the Refugee Convention gave the world a framework for protecting those forced to flee. Today, our challenge is to ensure that protection does not mark the end of a journalist’s career, but the beginning of the next chapter. Ensuring freelancers can continue reporting in exile means the truth does not become another casualty.
Something worth protecting—for the next 75 years and beyond
The names of individuals have been changed to protect their safety