Unesco - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the agency of the United Nations with the mandate to promote freedom of expression and exchange of ideas, marked the 20th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd in Costa Rica.
Officially proclaimed at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in 1993, World Press Freedom Day has its origins in 1991, at a meeting of African journalists in Namibia convened by UNESCO, which called for an official day to acknowledge and recognise the importance of press freedom. This meeting resulted in the Windhoek Declaration being adopted and further endorsed by the UNESCO General Assembly the same year. The Windhoek Declaration outlined aims for a worldwide press that is free, independent and with plurality - ie free from monopolies of ownership, be it privately or by governments.
Since that time, several major developments have occurred in the field of journalism which have impacted on the notion of a free and open press, not least of which have been the increasing use of technological advances such as smart phones and tablets as well as the adoption of the 24 hour news cycle. In response to these changes, last year the UN endorsed the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. Despite these advances, it continues to be a challenge to ensure the safety of journalists and freedom of the press. In 2012, 121 journalists lost their lives in the field, almost double the number for 2010 and 2011. In addition to this, harassment, intimidation and arrest of journalists continues to be widespread around the world, while the seeming lack of action agains the perpetrators of these attacks against journalists remains at a high level.
For this reason, the theme of World Press Freedom Day for 2013 was Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media to highlight the need for journalists to work in a safe environment, to stand up to those who would actively prevent them from reporting freely and establish a free and open Internet as a basic requirement of operating online.
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