RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The announcement was made during a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in the presence of Albertus Aochamub, Ambassador of Namibia, the host country of the 2021 Conference; Gabriela Civila López, Ambassador of Uruguay; and Tawfifk Jelassi, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector.
With Uruguay hosting World Press Freedom Day 2022, the global conference returns to Latin America after nearly a decade since the event in San José, Costa Rica. The meeting is held around May 3 in Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay’s oldest cities, whose historic center is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Ms. Civila Lopez, Ambassador of Uruguay to UNESCO, congratulated Namibia for hosting the last edition of the conference and expressed that Uruguay assumed the responsibility of co-organizing the 2022 world conference with pride and commitment. Ms. Lopez also reaffirmed Uruguay’s resounding condemnation of crimes, attacks, and all forms of violence and acts of intimidation against journalists and media workers.
The award ceremony was also an opportunity to announce that recognition of the Windhoek+30 Declaration, adopted by the participants of the 2021 World Press Freedom Day Conference in Namibia, was proposed as an agenda item for the 41st UNESCO General Conference, to be held from November 9 to 24, 2021.
Ambassador Aochamub recalled the 1991 Windhoek seminar, which gave rise to the historic Windhoek Declaration on Free, Independent, and Pluralistic Press. The Ambassador also referred to the consultation process Namibia is undertaking, with the support of UNESCO, to draft a bill on access to information. “We are ensuring a credible bill so that citizens feel a sense of ownership and that their voice is heard,” said Mr. Aochamub.
The Windhoek +30 Declaration takes up the spirit of the original 1991 Windhoek Declaration on a free, independent, and pluralistic press. It contains recommendations to address persistent and emerging challenges to press freedom, such as the severe economic crisis disrupting the media and the growing proliferation of online disinformation and hate speech.
The award ceremony was attended by virtually all other UNESCO Member States and delegates from previous host countries and the chairs of the regional groups of UNESCO’s Executive Board.
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, following a recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.