EU Ambassador's message on World Press Freedom Day

03.05.2020

On World Press Freedom Day, the EU Ambassador to Kenya thanks journalists in Kenya, for their dedication and professionalism in upholding the truth, shining a light into areas the public otherwise doesn’t see, and for contributing to and upholding our democratic values in Kenya and the EU

Dear Reporters, Correspondents, Presenters, Editors; Dear Journalists in Kenya.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to you, on behalf of the European Union, for the work you perform day in day out, in providing citizens with truthful information, critical opinion and shining light on matters where the public would otherwise not be able to look. Not only are you a key actor in ensuring the freedom of expression in this country, but also a pillar of its democracy and its adherence to pluralist values – the fourth pillar without which the whole democratic, pluralist edifice would come tumbling down. In this era of the COVID-19 virus, your role in informing citizens on the facts is equally playing a crucial role in helping to preserve not just your co-citizens lives, but also their livelihoods and their human rights going forward.

As I hope you know, the European Union has always been a staunch supporter of universal human rights across the globe, and in particular of the right to freedom of expression and of the media. We have been your defenders not just in word in institutions such as the United Nations and other international fora, but also in deed through our multitude of support programmes for journalists and media around the world, in particular for those operating in less democratic and more restricted circumstances than your own. The EU has also in the past, and as a last resort, given safe haven in the EU to persecuted and threatened journalists from abroad through the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights.

However, this letter is not about the EU, even as we wish to underline that the EU will continue to stand by your side. Rather, it is to thank you collectively and individually for the role you play in and increasingly challenging world of disinformation and limited resources. I would specifically like to thank all of you who have shown a willingness in the past year to pass on factual information about the EU, be it by publishing our opinion pieces, giving us the opportunity to engage in interviews, or by covering our work through other means.

I wish to congratulate you, and I look forward to continue working with you in the future.

Simon Mordue