UNESCO CELEBRATES WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY IN WINDHOEK

Windhoek (Namibia), May 3 (No.2001-68)  - The Namibian capital hosted today, World Press Freedom Day, the award-giving ceremony of the 2001 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and a Conference of some 300 journalists, editors, and representatives of non-governmental and professional organizations from Africa and the rest of the world, marking the 10th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration.

The 2001 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was given this morning by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura to Prescott Low, representing World Association of Newspapers (WAN), who received the award on behalf of its laureate, the Myanmar journalist U Win Tin, presently imprisoned in his country.

The Conference, Ten Years On: Assessment, Challenges and Prospects - which opened this afternoon and will last until May 5 - is analysing the impact of the Seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, held in the Namibian capital in 1991 and of the watershed Windhoek Declaration adopted on that occasion.

This morning’s ceremony opened - at the request of the moderator, Gwen Lister, editor of The Namibian - with a minute of silence in tribute to the many journalists jailed or killed in the struggle for press freedom. Among those attending the ceremony were Theo-Ben Gurirab, Namibia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting; Ibrahim Gambari, UN Under Secretary-General; Jyoti Shankar Singh, representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Paula Cano, representing the Cano Foundation.

In his address, Mr Matsuura declared: “Press freedom means independent and pluralistic media and, for journalists, the free exercise of their profession. But freedom of the press is more than just a basic individual human right of journalists. It is also a major factor in the economic and social development of societies. A free press is not a luxury. A free press is at the absolute core of equitable development […]. For all these reasons, it is imperative that the promotion of press freedom continue to be a constant struggle.”

Mr Matsuura stressed that the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is “one of the ways in which our Organization expresses this determined commitment to the cause of those who suffer from the lack of liberty and who, with little human dignity, live in very difficult, even desperate, conditions.” He then spoke of the career of the Myanmar journalist U Win Tin and appealed “to both the authorities of Myanmar and of the Syrian Republic to allow respectively Mr U Win Tin and the former prize winner, Mr Nizar Nayyouf [laureate of the Prize in 2000], whose medical condition is now life-threatening, to be released and then treated in hospital.”

The Director-General also highlighted the impact of the Windhoek Declaration, saying that its principles and plan of action have become “the reference for media professionals to carry out their professional duties […], a major guiding force behind the increasing number of democratic governments who turn to it for guidance in the adaptation or drafting of democratic media legislation, and in their everyday dealings with the media and journalists.” He added: “Africa, as indeed the world, is not the same today as it was ten years ago. In the field of media and communication, one important development has been the advent of the new communication technologies and the growing impact they are having on everyday social communication. But we must also regret that the so-called ‘digital divide’, that is the gap between the information haves and have-nots, is rapidly growing. If we are going to fully profit from great technological advances, we must make sure that everyone participates, not just some selected minorities.”

Theo-Ben Gurirab took the floor in the name of the President of Namibia Sam Nujoma and declared: “Information is the strong foundation on which democracy is built. Information has the ability to empower and motivate people to take charge of their own destinies and to contribute to self-development as well as national and continental development [...]. On the African continent, the African media should become the instruments of change - informing, bridging gaps and establishing dialogue.”

The President’s message further noted: “While governments and their leaders are not above criticism, the same is true for the media. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The tension between the media and the state could be less if the media are cognisant of the fact that freedoms must be accompanied by responsibilities, some of which include respecting people’s privacy, being objective, checking facts and affording people the chance to respond to allegation against them.”

Jyoti Shankar Singh linked the celebration in Windhoek to the World Conference on Racism to be held in South Africa next August and spoke of the role of the media in the struggle against racism, discrimination and xenophobia. Ibrahim Gambari for his part said: “Where a free press is imperilled, muzzled or banned altogether, every other freedom is limited too, and democracy itself threatened.” He also spoke of “the role that a free and vibrant press can play in bringing the horror of racism to light.”

The Belgian journalist Mia Doornaert, President of UNESCO’s Consultative Group for Press Freedom, declared: “Freedom is a culture and journalism a métier which requires serious training.” She added: “A free press can be either good or bad, a controlled press can only be bad.”

Paula Cano, granddaughter of the murdered Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano, after whom the Prize has been named, took the floor on behalf of the Cano Foundation and said that “celebrating freedom of the press and awarding a prize to those who stand for it is the most coherent statement that men and women on this planet can make for mankind in order to vindicate human intelligence and to remind all governments and those political and criminal organizations that flout it through their actions that they are taking the wrong path.”

Prescott Low, who accepted the Prize on behalf of the journalist U Win Tin, stressed that the latter, who turned 71 in March, has spent the last 12 years in prison. He pointed out that U Win Tin’s was not the only such case as 13 journalists are in detention in Myanmar. Mr Low read out a message from the laureate who said: “I did not achieve this honour alone. I would be happy to accept the prestigious Cano Prize not for myself but on behalf of all the democratic forces, including writers and journalists, who are struggling for freedom in Burma.” U Win Tin also made it known that he intends to use the US$25,000 of the Prize to create a foundation to assist those struggling for democracy.

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For more information: www.unesco.org/webworld