World Press Day, which was adopted in order to shed light on the circumstances experienced by professionals in this noble profession and the violations they are subjected to directly and indirectly.
For decades, studies and statistics have shown that the Middle East and some African countries are at the top of the list of abuses against journalists around the world, especially in areas dominated by authoritarian regimes or ravaged by social and military conflicts. Many journalists are prisoned in a number of Middle Eastern countries, in addition to many innocent people who were arrested simply for attending protests. Public peaceful protest is a kind of expressing an opinion and voicing their concerns about the direction their governments were taking.
Human Rights organizations and their staff face the difficulty of work and action or limitations of reach by more than a dozen countries, and although their work is not Press-Like since they shed light on human rights violations, they also need to have the freedom of action if we want a brighter future.
We’d like to take this occasion to ask all governments to release journalists and prisoners of conscience. Expressing an opinion is the first step in a democratic society and no one, woman or man, should fear to voice their opinions, regardless if they work for a national press, or are simple civilians.
