The commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day on May 3 constitutes an important opportunity to review achievements and learn from failures, after three decades of efforts to empower the free press, defend freedom of expression around the world, and end discrimination, systematic racism and impunity.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day to mark the anniversary of adopting the Windhoek Declaration, a historic meeting of African journalists on May 3, 1991. The goal of this universal declaration was to remind Governments the need to respect press freedom, ensure a free and secure media environment for journalists, assess the state of press freedom globally and revive the efforts of journalists who lost their lives or were arrested for their duties.
The latest report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), released in mid-December 2022, revealed that the number of journalists imprisoned in the world last year was the highest over the past 30 years, reaching 363 journalists by December 1, 2022, which is 20% higher than the year 2021.
According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, the methods of arresting journalists went beyond red lines, including raids, confiscation of communications devices, concealment of press coverage reports and suspension of their social media accounts.
The annual tally of violations committed against journalists around the world, published by Reporters Without Borders, also set a larger record, with 533 detainees among media crews in 2022, while 57 journalists around the world were killed over the past 12 months, not to mention 65 abducted and 49 missing.
The organization's report entitled "The New Polarization Age" placed Scandinavia at the top of the ladder of countries that respect freedom of information. The top five countries were ranked as follows: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom and the United States in the 24th and 42nd places respectively, while Qatar ranked first in the Gulf, fourth in the Arabs and 119th globally.
The freedom of press, the safety of journalists, the right to access information and the guarantee of freedom of expression s Human Rights are placed prominence in the provisions of article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They are a prerequisite and engine for the enjoyment of all other human rights and constitute the cornerstone of civilized societies. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. This right includes the freedom to form opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through all means of communication regardless of the borders of States."
In the past three years, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the consequences of the climate of blackout imposed by many countries on its people because of the virus, where press coverage critical of government policies or public figures is often prosecuted.
Despite the prevalence of independent media in most of the world's countries, the emergence of digital technologies that allow free flow of information online, and legislation in several countries on journalists' rights and rationalization of targeting, the safety of journalists and freedom of expression are increasingly under attack, facing forms of restriction that prevent many press crews from performing their duties professionally.
The World Press Freedom Index showed what it called "disastrous effects of news and information chaos" in the year 2022, as the digital space became not subject to standards, regulation or constructive competition, which made it a fertile arena for the spread of false information and propaganda and the report focused on the war model in Ukraine to show the magnitude of global polarization and the cracking of the foundations on which democracy, freedoms, and respect for human rights were built.
The lives of journalists represent the tax of the profession in which they decided to organize themselves and defend their gains despite the decrease in the number of journalists killed while practicing media work during the years 2020 by 50 journalists and 2021 by 48 journalists, the year 2022 witnessed an increase of 19%.
On World Press Freedom Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that journalists and media workers are facing "increasing politicization" of their work and threats to their freedom to simply do their jobs.
On the other hand, the Director-General of the UN cultural agency UNESCO Audrey Azoulay said that more than five out of six people in the world live in a country that has recorded a decline in press freedom over the past five years.
The killing of Al Jazeera correspondent, Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her coverage of the Israeli occupation armys storming of the Palestinian camp of Jenin in May 2022 was one of the most prominent evidences this year of the dangers that threaten journalists during the performance of their work. But, this violation was not the only one recorded on the Palestinian territories this year, as SKeyes organization monitored more than 250 violations, most of which are direct attacks by the occupation army on journalists.
For its part, the State of Qatar stressed the importance and necessity of protecting journalists in areas of conflict and war, noting that ensuring the safety of journalists is among its priorities and a prerequisite for achieving the goal of freedom of expression.
Qatar has expressed its support for the UN action plan on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity and contributing to a number of concrete measures adopted by the State of Qatar at the international and local levels, including its contribution to evacuating hundreds of journalists from Kabul during August 2021 events; hosting an international conference on the protection of journalists in 2012; and launching the international conference to protect journalists and the International Declaration on the Protection of Journalists (IDPJ) in 2016.
The State of Qatar also sponsored the first UN Security Council resolution on the protection of journalists in situations of armed conflict, which was adopted under the Qatari presidency of the Council in 2006, in addition to hosting the United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in the State of Qatar in 2015 and adopted the Doha Declaration, in which heads of states and governments pledged to prevent and combat violence against journalists and media personnel.
