UNESCO acknowledges 'humanity’s huge debt' to Palestinian journalists

AMMAN – Gaza’s journalists have received the highest accolade from the UN agency responsible for promoting peace and security, according to a statement for The Jordan Times. 

At a ceremony during UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day conference, in Chile, Mauricio Weibel, chair of the prizes’ international jury presented honoured them with UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano prize for press freedom, according to a statement from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). 

The award was accepted on behalf of all Gaza’s journalists, by Nasser Abu Baker, president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. He said, “The price of conveying the truth in Palestine has become the life of the journalist, and sometimes his or the life of his or her family. All media institutions in Gaza have been destroyed, and foreign journalists have also been excluded from the enclave”, the statement said. 

Making the award, Weibel was quoted in the statement as saying, “As humanity, we have a huge debt to (Palestinian journalists) courage and commitment to freedom of expression”.

Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s director general said, “This year, the Prize reminds us of the importance of collective action to ensure that journalists around the world can continue to carry out their essential work to inform and investigate.”

The IFJ nominated its affiliate the PJS for this award; the union will receive a $25,000 prize from UNESCO.

Since 7th October, more than 100 journalists and media workers in Gaza have lost their lives in Israeli attacks – a mortality rate of more than ten per cent. Nearly all the enclave’s 1,000 or so reporters have lost family members, their offices and their homes. Many are now desperately hungry and short of basic necessities, according to IFJ. 

The prize is made in the name of Guillermo Cano the Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador in Bogotá, Colombia, on 17 December 1986.