On 3 May 1993, it was commemorated as World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly, following the recommendation of the UNESCO General Conference.
This was due to an appeal from African journalists who in 1991 drafted the historic Windhoek Declaration on Pluralism and Media Independence.
Organized annually since 1993, the World Conference on Press Freedom is a platform for journalists, civil society representatives, national authorities, academics and the general public to talk and discuss the challenges presented daily in the profession. And for all those who work in the field, find together a solution that involves making the task of communicating better and safer. Similarly, the Federal Publishers Association of the Argentine Republic (AFERA) shares a motto for World Press Freedom Day 2020, highlighting the importance of fighting ignorance with reliable news and those who are always present fake news.
World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for the media that is the subject of restriction or the abolition of press freedom. It is a day to remember those journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.As well as knowing that there are countries that restrict the free movement of information, or directly annul it as is the case of Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan, where the media is at the service of power. Other countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Iran, Equatorial Guinea, Belarus and Cuba use blunt tactics such as harassment of the press, arbitrary arrests, as well as sophisticated surveillance and hacking to silence the independent press.
Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam and Iran are especially adept at imprisoning and harassing journalists and their families, as well as censoring the Internet and social media.
In these countries there are so-called “blacklists” in which rulers order actions, ranging from the imprisonment of journalists, repressive laws and restrictions on access to the Internet and social networks. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ensures that everyone has the right to seek and receive news and express their opinion.
