Mr. Tim Dawson:

Of the survey evidence we have seen, more than half of women journalists have experienced disturbing levels of online abuse. There is something weirdly enabling about the Internet that makes people feel they can sort of spew out their bile and, somehow, it has no consequences. I am not quite sure how this works in people's heads but the cumulative effect of it has a terrible impact. The cases I have seen that have come through the National Union of Journalists, by way of members under pressure, are clearly only the tip of the iceberg. If we were to start with the extent of the survey evidence and then look at the extreme cases that come before the union, it is deeply concerning.

I might just amplify something Ms Evans said about the situation in Gaza, although I know this is at the other end of the spectrum. In some ways, what has happened to journalists in Gaza is clearly a kind of black swan event. We have never seen anything like it, ever. To give a crumb of context, the Vietnam War lasted for 20 years, had 2 million combatants and 63 journalists died. In Gaza, the more than 10% mortality rate is quite extraordinary.

The Senator is asking what people can do. I agree with everything the CPJ has said, but I think it is also worth keeping pressure on the International Criminal Court. It has been mercurial. The committee will be aware that long before this current conflict, journalists have been killed in Palestine, most famously Shireen Abu Akleh who worked for Al Jazeera. It is worth looking at the evidence around that killing. That can be done on the Internet. It is very strong and compelling. The UN reported on the circumstances of her death. Its conclusion is very bald: either deliberately or accidentally, she was killed by Israeli soldiers in circumstances where there was no surrounding gunfire at all. That is the conclusion of the UN.

We complained to the International Criminal Court about her killing, and the killing of two or three other people, about nine months after Ms Abu Akleh died. So far as I can tell, nothing has yet happened. This is a case that precedes the current conflict but, my goodness, the ICC should be getting on with it. If it moved on that case, it would give some people hope that some kind of action might be taken on the subsequent complaints we also have made about killings in the current war. While for all-----