The protection of journalists
"concerns all of society",
governments as well as citizens, said Tuesday the director general of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, in an interview with AFP on the occasion of the Unesco world conference on International Press Freedom Day.
Asked about the threats hanging over journalists in Mexico, one of the deadliest countries in the world for this profession, Audrey Azoulay considered that this question
"concerns all of society, including governments which must help with protection mechanisms".
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"It also concerns citizens who must mobilize to understand that this freedom, that of journalists, is theirs, the possibility of having access to fair information, independent information",
she added .
from Punta del Este, in eastern Uruguay, where this annual conference is held until Wednesday, devoted in 2022 to
“Journalism under the digital influence”.
On this occasion, the Unesco world press freedom prize, which was awarded to the Association of Journalists of Belarus (AJB) at the end of April, was presented Monday evening to its president Andreï Bastunets.
“We journalists defend the truth and we stand together,”
declared Andrei Bastunets, saluting
the “tremendous courage”
of his colleagues who remain in Belarus
“committed to bringing truthful information to society”.
The journalist himself was forced to flee his country in 2021 and has since lived in a secret location.
His presence in Punta del Este for the reception of the award had not been announced.
The president of the association, who spoke in Russian, recalled that
"over the past two years"
and the controversial re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, hundreds of journalists have been threatened, imprisoned, forced to flee Belarus .
Founded in 1995, in reaction to the coming to power of Alexander Lukashenko a year earlier, and 1,300 members strong, the AJB fought to preserve freedom of the press in Belarus but was forced to put an end to its activities during the wave of repression in the summer of 2021. Andrei Bastunets also highlighted the work done by local and foreign journalists covering the war in Ukraine.
“This award is an endorsement of the entire independent journalism community
,” he said.