Special Rapporteurs launch the 2023 Joint Declaration on media freedom and democracy

2 May - UN General Assembly Hall

10:00 – 10:30 – Opening session

• H.E. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General
• Video message by H.E. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General 
• Keynote address by A.G. Sulzberger, Chairman and Publisher of The New York Times

Performance by J. Ivy, Grammy award-winning spoken word poet

Master of ceremony: Michelle Fleury, BBC News correspondent

10:35-11:45 - Setting the scene 

Opening talk: Felipe Neto, communicator and digital influencer and Kristen Saloomey, Correspondent, Al Jazeera

10:45-11:45 - Speaking out for our rights

The first panel features those who, because they had freedom of expression, were able to raise their voices on various human rights and contribute to changing behaviors and societies.

• Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General, Amnesty International
• Masih Alinejad, journalist and women’s rights campaigner
• David Rohde, Executive Editor, New Yorker.com
• Yalitza Aparicio, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Indigenous Peoples

Moderated by Maher Nasser, Director, Outreach Division, UN Department of Global Communications

Remarks by Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (Video Message)

11:45-12:40 - The institutions that defend human rights

The second panel is an opportunity to recognize the work of the institutions that we have built over the past 30 years as guardians and defenders of our rights

• Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, UN OHCHR
• Dunja Mijatovic, Human Rights Commissioner, Council of Europe
• Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, First Vice-President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Right
• Hassatou Ba-Minte, Africa Programme Director, International Federation for Human Rights, FIDH

Moderated by Antonio Zappulla, CEO, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Including interventions from the floor / Q&A 

12:45-14:15 - Lunch break

High-Level Governmental Segment 

14:15-14:30 - Multilateralism and freedom of expression: A joint commitment from across the UN

A dialogue between the presidents of the representative bodies of the United Nations, will be an opportunity to show how multilateralism and freedom of expression are both essential to ensuring that individuals and communities have a voice in shaping their societies.

• H.E. Santiago Irazabal Mourão ,President of the UNESCO General Conference
• H.E. Lachezara Stoeva, President of the UN Economic and Social Council
• H.E. Václav Bálek, President of the Human Rights Council (​​​​video message)

Moderated by  Bahia Tahzib-Lie, Human Rights Ambassador of The Netherlands

14:30 - 15:05 - Freedom of Expression Policies

Keynote Address: Keynote address by Samantha Power, USAID Administrator

• H.E. Camila Vallejo, Minister General Secretariat of the Government of Chile
• H.E. Thomas Guerber, Deputy State Secretary, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland
• H.E. Anna Lührmann, Minister of State for Europe and Climate, Federal Foreign Office of Germany 

15:05-15:55 - Journalism to promote human rights

How to ensure a plurality of voices and opinions, how to make challenges visible and heard around the world: journalists explain how investigative journalism on human rights violations, including gender-based violence and threats to women journalists, can contribute to action being taken to improve the human rights situation

• Sergiy Tomilenko, President, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine
• Rana Ayyub, Journalist and Columnist,  Washington Post
• Liliane Landor, Director of the BBC World Service
• Jose Zamora, Chief communications and impact officer, Exile

Moderated by Hoda Osman, Executive Editor, ARIJ

16:00-16:30 - Joint Declaration from Special Mandate Holders on Media Freedom and Democracy

This panel will bring together the special mandates on freedom of expression from the UN and regional inter-governmental organizations on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day.

• Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
• Ourveena Gereesha Topsy-Sonoo, African Union Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information
• Pedro Vaca Villareal, Special Rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• Teresa Ribeiro, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

Moderated by Barbora Bukovska, Senior Director for Law and Policy, ARTICLE 19

16:30-17:35 - Press freedom, the threats to journalists and the future of the media

The last panel alerts us to the threats that journalists face, discusses the state of press freedom and the future of media.

Opening talk:  Almar Latour, Publisher of the Wall Street Journal and Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera Bureau Chief, Washington D.C.

Remarks by Khadija Patel, Head of Programme, International Fund on Public Interest Media

• Zoe Titus, Chairperson, Global Forum on Media Development; CEO of the Namibia Media Trust
• Jodie Ginsberg, President, Committee to Protect Journalists
• Peter Noorlander, Reporters Shield's startup director
• Professor Seong-Phil Hong, Member of the High-Level Legal Panel on Media Freedom

Moderated by Omar Jimenez, CNN

17:30-17:45 - Closing remarks and handover

• Tawfik Jelassi, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO

Handover to next World Press Freedom Day host country

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize ceremony

19:30 - 21:00 

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize will be awarded to the 2023 laureate on the evening of 2 May at The Shed. This event is by invitation only.