World Press Freedom Day is celebrated on 3 May. The 2012 World Press Freedom Day has more resonance in Tunisia, in the year after its revolution which gave the country press freedom, and sparked the 'Arab Spring' of 2011.
Tunis has been the home of the African Development Bank since 2003, when made its temporary relocation headquarters there from Côte d'Ivoire due to insecurity.
Accordingly, the AfDB is organizing a number of side events and activities surrounding the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). The events include a roundtable on Tunisian media, a journalist training day, and a lunch hosted by AfDB.
The WPFD events in Tunisia will take place from 3 to 5 May at the Karthago Palace Hotel, Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia.
World Press Freedom day was jointly established in 1991 by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the UN's Department of Public Information. It celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
This year's celebration is centered on three themes. The first is that media freedom has the power to transform society. The second relates to that difficulty access to quality information undermines media freedom, and the third is the challenges to media in a new environment.
On 2 May, the AfDB's Human Development Department will sponsor a roundtable on "Media and Governance: Sustaining Tunisia's Pioneer Role in the Arab Awakening."
This is a civil society event mainly for Tunisians, with some outside experts to chart a way forward for media governance. The roundtable is organized by Tunisia Live and Center for Developing Communication (CDC) in Tunisia.
This roundtable will be conducted in Arabic in order to reach a wide audience in Tunisia and in the region, through live streaming of the event.
On 3 May, a training session for journalists will take place, with a follow up on 5 May.
The AfDB has organized the training for approximately 20 selected journalists. It has been organized in collaboration with the Centre Africain de Perfectionnement des Journalistes et Communicateurs.
The training session will cover inclusive growth and the role of the media in fostering accountability.
On 4 May, the AfDB is hosting a lunch at the Karthago Palace Hotel for around 250 people. Those expected to attend include Irina Bokova, UNESCO's director-general and Habiba Meiri-Cheikh, director of the Department of Public Information of the African Union Commission.
Contacts
David Short
