ISLAMABAD (APP) – Like other parts of the globe, the World Press Freedom Day will be observed in Pakistan on May 3.

The theme of this year is, “Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and Empowerment of People.”

At this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebration, UNESCO would like to explore how media freedom and access to information feed into the wider development objective of empowering people. World Press Freedom Day reminds us all – governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations as well as civil society – of the crucial role a free press plays in strengthening democracies and fostering development around the world. World Press Freedom Day is a day designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993, the day is celebrated each year on May 3, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

UNESCO marks World press freedom day by conferring the UNESCO / Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and / or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/29/2008