"Violations of fundamental human rights cannot go unanswered. State authorities must do everything to counter impunity and to protect the safety of journalists. We will never forget the courage of journalists who paid with their lives for our right to know. "
From a Joint Message for 2011 from
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General
Journalists from Radio Miraya hold village debates and host live broadcasts with voters during registration period leading up to January 2011 referendum in Southern Sudan. (UN Photo/Tim McKulka) World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on 3 May worldwide. It is an opportunity to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers" is the theme of World Press Freedom Day 2011.
By decision 48/432 of 20 December 1993, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day. Since then, it has been celebrated each year on 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek. The document calls for free, independent, pluralistic media worldwide characterizing free press as essential to democracy and a fundamental human right.
The Declaration of Windhoek is a statement of free press principles as put together by newspaper journalists in Africa during a UNESCO seminar on “Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press” in Windhoek, Namibia, from 29 April to 3 May 1991.
2011 marks the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek. The Declaration of Windhoek was endorsed by UNESCO's General Conference at its twenty-sixth session (1991).
The Windhoek Declaration was a call to arms to protect the fundamental principles of the freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.