DUSHANBE
, May 3, Asia-Plus –
Tajikistan
today marks a World Press Freedom Day.
A roundtable meeting staged by the
Institute
of
War
and Peace Research (IWPR), National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit) and the Internews Network office in
Tajikistan
is being held at the
Tajik
Center
for Strategic Studies today.
The meeting participants include representatives from state-run and independent print and electronic media of the country.
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed World Press Freedom Day in 1993. Since then, it has been celebrated each year on May 3, 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 April 29 to
May 3 1991
.
