3 May, World Press Freedom Day, was celebrated all over the world this year as an occasion to reflect on the importance of defending the principles of freedom of speech and the right to information, pluralism and media independence. The anniversary also serves as a reminder to ask what we can do to strengthen journalism by recognizing that information is a public good to be protected.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day to highlight the importance of press freedom, recall governments to their duty to uphold and enforce the freedom of speech enshrined in Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and mark the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration concerning media pluralism and independence, promulgated by African journalists in 1991.
According to the UNESCO Observatory, 76 journalists were murdered in 2020-21, while many more around the world experienced arrest, harassment and/or threats.