WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY IN ABOVYAN CITY

ArmRadio.am
04.05.2007 10:47

As part of UN Armenia Office outreach to Armenian regions and
communities, the United Nations in Armenia in partnership with the
National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA) are launching a series of
concerts that will take place in 8 cities of Armenia throughout the
year, to commemorate several UN international observance days. This
initiative is part of the NCOA’s outstanding ongoing outreach program,
Taking Music to the People, which has been offering free-of-charge
performances in the regions of Armenia every season.

The first of this series of concerts, in this case, in the city of
Abovyan, was devoted to World Press Freedom Day and took place on 3
May, at 6pm, at the music school after Zareh Sahakyants.

"We wanted to celebrate it here, in Kotayk marz, with the people
of Abovian" said Consuelo Vidal UN Resident coordinator in Armenia
during her speech. " We wanted to draw attention to Kotayk marz,
which has so much to offer to the development of Armenia". She added:
"We would like to call upon our friends of the media to focus your
attention and efforts to reduce poverty in Armenia. Your work is
especially important at the local level, in the regions of the country
where inequality is more visible and prevalent".

3 May was proclaimed World Press Freedom Day the UN General Assembly
in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth
session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991. Every year, this is
a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom,
evaluates press freedom around the world, defends the media from
attacks on their independence and pays tribute to journalists who
have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. It is a
date to encourage and develop initiatives in favor of press freedom,
and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide. It serves as a
reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to
press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals
about issues of press freedom and professional ethics.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently published details
about 580 journalists that were killed in the line of duty worldwide
between January 1992 and August 2006. According to these data,
71,4% were murdered, 18,4% died in crossfire or in combat-related
circumstances and 10% during other dangerous assignments.