9th December 2016
By Tom Law

UNESCO World Press Freedom Day 2017

WPFD 2017: ‘Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies’

From 1 to 4 May 2017, UNESCO organised, in collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian Press Council, its main celebration of World Press Freedom Day (3 May). At a time described by some as critical for journalism, World Press Freedom Day’s International Conference will examine how free and quality media are needed perhaps more than ever before to promote peaceful, just, inclusive societies, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. The Conference provided a unique opportunity to highlight the central role that freedom of expression and the right to access information can play in the realization of the SDGs. The Concept Note for the conference can be found here.

On the evening of 3 May, the awarding ceremony of the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize will took place. The Prize is intended to honour a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence or promotion of press freedom.

A series of pre-events will be organized by UNESCO partners on 1 and 2 May, building momentum ahead of the main event.

Jakarta Declaration

This document has taken account of the comments of many participants at the WPFD conference. UNESCO thanks the following for their participation in the drafting committee: Bambang Harymurti, Gwen Lister, Toby Mendel, Jonathan Bock, Constance Bommelaer and Rana Sabbagh.