World Press Freedom Day
World Press Freedom Day 2025
Mark your calendars! We are delighted to announce that UNESCO’s 32nd World Press Freedom Day Conference will take place from May 5 to 7, 2025, in Bucharest. This year's theme, Reporting in the Brave New World: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media, will explore the challenges and opportunities that artificial intelligence presents for the right to information.
Join us for an exciting global celebration that promises to inspire and engage. As each year, we will host a variety of side events alongside the prestigious award ceremony for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
Stay tuned for more details coming your way soon!
Register to the Conference!
You can now register for the Global Conference! Join us in Bucharest, Romania, from May 5 to 7, for engaging discussions and events exploring the future of information in the age of artificial intelligence.
Call for side events
The call for side events for the 2025 edition of World Press Freedom Day is now open! Submit your event proposals by January 30, 2025.
World Press Freedom Day 2024
A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis
2-4 May 2024
Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral, Santigo, Chile
This Story must be Told – UNESCO campaign for #WorldPressFreedomDay
All stories deserve to be told. But this one may be particularly decisive.
The climate and biodiversity crisis are not only affecting the environment and ecosystems but also the lives of billions of people around the world. Their stories of upheaval and loss deserve to be known and shared. They are not always pretty to watch. They can even be disturbing. But it's only by knowing that action is possible. Exposing the crisis is the first step to solving it.
That's why the role of journalists is crucial. It is through their work, their courage and their perseverance that we can know what is happening across the planet. They work on the frontlines of our collective fight for the health of our planet and our struggle for livable lives. On this World Press Freedom Day, let’s recognize and celebrate their work in helping us shape a better future.
Press cartoons for the Planet
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO and Cartooning for Peace launch a series of cartoons in support to a Press for the Planet!
Academic conference
If you are an academic interested in topics such as freedom of expression and safety of journalists, register to the Global Conference to attend the academic conference, which will take place on 4 May 2024.
Commemorations around the world
World Press Freedom Day is taking place on a global scale. Local, national and regional celebrations are organized by government and civil society organizations, including media, journalists' associations, universities, among others. If you are planning to organize an event in your country, please fill out the form below so it can be featured in UNESCO's list of commemorations around the world.
Get Involved
3 May acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.
History of the International Day
Every year, 3 May is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom, to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO's General Conference in 1991. This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration.
News
The Santiago Declaration
The historic Santiago Declaration was adopted during the “Seminar on the Development of Media and Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean” (May 6, 1994). It marked a new phase in promoting the right to freedom of expression and of the press, as well as the development and recognition of community media, independence, and pluralism of the media in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Windhoek Declaration
The Windhoek Declaration is considered a benchmark for ensuring press freedom around the world. It all began at a seminar in Windhoek, Namibia in 1991.
Resources
Discover more international days
World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture - African World Heritage Day - International day against violence and bullying at school including cyberbullying - World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development - International Day of Education - International Day of the Girl - International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust - Human Rights Day - International Day of Light - International Literacy Day - International Mother Language Day - Nelson Mandela International Day - World Oceans Day - World Philosophy Day - World Poetry Day - International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition - World Teachers' Day - International Day for Tolerance - International Women's Day - International Day of Women and Girls in Science - World Art Day - World Book and Copyright Day - World Radio Day - World Water Day
