World Press Freedom Day - May 3rd
This entry was posted on 5/3/2007 12:07 PM and is filed under Events.
World Press Freedom Day was established by the General Assembly
of the United Nations in December, 1993, as an outgrowth of
the Seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African
Press. This Seminar took place in Windhoek, Namibia, in 1991
and led to the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting
Independent and Pluralistic Media (www.misanet.org/charters/windhoek.html).
The Windhoek Declaration called for the establishment, maintenance
and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press
and emphasized the importance of a free press to the development
and maintenance of democracy in a nation, and for economic development.
World Press Freedom Day is celebrated annually on May 3rd, the
date on which the Windhoek Declaration was adopted.
Although World Press Freedom Day has only been celebrated since
1993, it has much deeper roots in the United Nations: Article
19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights states:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through
any media and regardless of frontiers" (www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm).
