May 3: World Press Freedom Day observed

This year UNESCO is celebrating World Press Freedom Day.

One of its themes is “Difficulty in the Access to Quality Information Undermines Media Freedom.”
The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day.

World Press Freedom Day – May,3:

Objective: To elevate consciousness of the significance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

What is Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize?

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a worthy individual, organization or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the defence and/or endorsement of press freedom anywhere in the world, particularly when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

The Prize is named in honour of “Guillermo Cano Isaza”, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano’s writings had offended Colombia’s powerful drug barons.

• The 2012’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was awarded to: Eynulla Fatullayev, Azerbaijan

What is the Windhoek Declaration?

The “Windhoek Declaration” is a statement of press freedom principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991 at a UNESCO seminar, "Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press," held in Windhoek, Namibia, from April 29 to May 3, 1991. The Declaration was the consequence of a long and frank look at the problems of African print media. In Africa, radio is the medium that reaches the largest number of people. The date of the Declaration’s adoption, May 3, has since been declared as “World Press Freedom Day”.