UNESCO and Iraqi Journalist Syndicate join to celebrate World Press Freedom Day on May 3

UNESCO Media Advisory no. 2015 – 05
Baghdad: 29 April 2015 –World Press Freedom Day held on 3 May of every year 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.
UNESCO and the Iraqi Journalist Syndicate will celebrate the Day with an event entitled “Let Journalism
Thrive! Towards better Reporting, Gender Equality, and Media Safety in the Digital Age”. It will be held at the headquarters of the Iraqi Journalist Syndicate in Baghdad on Sunday 3 May 2015 at 10:00 am in the presence of human rights activists, journalists and members of the international community.
The event will feature speeches from the Director of UNESCO Office for Iraq Axel Plathe, President of IJS
Moaid Al-Lami, Member of the Board of Human Rights Commission Athmar Majeed Al Shatarai and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Iraq György Busztin. It also includes a panel discussion on the topics of better reporting and independent journalism in the digital age, gender and the media, and safety of journalists and their sources.
On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day celebration, UNESCO and IJS will sign an agreement to cooperate to foster freedom of expression, develop the media sector and provide universal access to information and knowledge in Iraq. A media training project entitled “Enhancing Iraqi journalists’ capacities in conflict sensitive reporting”, which will be funded by IJS and implemented by UNESCO is a first concrete step of this enhanced cooperation.

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Journalists who wish to attend the World Press Freedom Day celebration are kindly required to register.
For registration and more information, please contact:
Dhea Subhee
d.subhee@unesco.org
00964 – 78 034 08 125
00964 – 78 019 58 802