3 May was declared World Press Freedom Day by The United Nations General Assembly. The aim is to raise awareness of the importance of the freedom of the press and 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. 3 May also marks the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.
Since 1999, WAN-IFRA has provided a 3 May campaign website featuring exclusive materials commissioned to draw attention to freedom of expression. This year, we invite you to download and freely publish our editorials, cartoons, advertisements and infographics on or around 3 May, and to explore press freedom issues with your readers.
You can publish free of charge any of the editorial and advertising materials available on this site to draw attention to freedom of expression on World Press Freedom Day. All we ask is that you credit the original sources along with WAN-IFRA. You may also translate any of the material into another language that we do not currently offer.
A range of activities take place across the globe on or around 3 May to mark World Press Freedom Day. Email us with your own ideas and contributions as to how you are looking to celebrate World Press Freedom Day with your readers.
A number of individuals and organisations have made this year's campaign possible. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Agence France-Presse, Russian Guild of Press Publishers, Michel Cambon, Cartooning for Peace, Sanjeev Saikia, Iris Worldwide, the World Editors Forum, and our dedicated team of translators.