Kenji Goto

Kenji Goto was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Graduating from Hosei University in Tokyo in 1991, he worked for a media production company before founding his own independent video press agency, Independent Press, in 1996. While mainstream television networks focused on frontline battles and geopolitical rhetoric, Goto dedicated his lens to the human cost of armed conflict, centering his reportage on displaced families, disabled youth, and child soldiers.

Over two decades, Goto reported from over twenty conflict-ravaged regions, including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iraq. He authored insightful educational books for Japanese schoolchildren, such as We Want Peace, Not Diamonds (about child soldiers in Sierra Leone) and Welcome to Our School in Afghanistan, receiving the prestigious Sankei Children's Book Award and the Kyodo News Akiko Tada Human Rights Award.

In October 2014, learning that his friend Haruna Yukawa had been captured in northern Syria by ISIS terrorists, Goto journeyed into Syria determined to negotiate his release, recording a moving video message stating: 'Whatever happens, I am responsible. Please do not blame the Syrian people.' Captured near Raqqa shortly afterward, Goto was held hostage under horrific conditions before being executed by ISIS in late January 2015. His serene dignity, profound compassion for war victims, and legendary appeal for peace touched millions of people worldwide.