3 May: World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. Since that time, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, has been celebrated as World Press Freedom Day globally.

The keynote behind establishing World Press Freedom Day is to celebrate and reflect on the fundamental principles of press freedom and remind the goverments about the importance of their commitment to media freedom. It is also the chance to act in order to defend the media’s freedom and independence and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives due to the exercise of their professional duties.

Special commemorations of the 30th anniversary of proclamation of the Windhoek Declaration are planned to take place during the 2022 World Press Freedom Day International Conference. The conference has been held annually since 1993 as an integral part of the World Press Freedom Day celebration. Its main goal is to bring journalists, civil society representatives, national authorities, academics and the broader public together and give them an opportunity to debate on the challenges to press freedom and journalists’ safety as well as to work on the possible solutions.

The 2022 World Press Freedom Day Global Conference is organised jointly by UNESCO and the Republic of Uruguay and is held between 2-5 May in a hybrid format in Punta Del Este, Uruguay. The main theme of this year’s conference is “Journalism under Digital Siege”, focusing on the impact of the digital era on freedom of expression, journalists’ safety, media viability and public trust. It draws attention to the multiple ways in which journalism is endangered by digital communication tools, big data collection and artificial intelligence. It corresponds with the findings from the latest UNESCO Insights discussion paper on World Trends In Freedom of Expression and Media Development Global Report 2021/2022: “Threats that Silence: Trends in the Safety of Journalists” and exercises the implementation of principles outlined in the Windhoek +30 Declaration on Information as a Public Good.

The programme of the conference can be found here.

Last update

3/5/2022