Port-au-Prince, May 3, 2024 [AlterPresse] — The situation of the media and journalists is getting more and more complicated every day, while the country’s crisis is getting worse, the press conference held on the occasion of May 3, the International Day of Freedom of the Press.
It is since 1993 that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known as Unesco, came up with this date to remove the hat from the work of journalists and the media throughout the world.
On May 3, 2024, the media and journalists in Haiti are living a situation that is getting more complicated every day. They cannot move freely and freely to search for information, because of the terror and acts of gang violence with guns that are on everyone’s shoulders, while they are attacking all institutions, organizations, hospitals, health centers, pharmacies, university spaces, libraries, all kinds of businesses, public and private offices, public transport vehicles, etc.
Haiti has become one of the countries where it is more difficult for journalists to do their jobs and to exercise the profession of journalism properly. Since January 2022, 11 journalists have been murdered. The situation of journalists has become more complicated since gangs and guns are increasing their acts of terror and violence. Some journalists have died. There are journalists who are subjected to acts of kidnapping. Some journalists are forced to flee the country. There are media that have been subjected to acts of destruction, such as acts of looting by gangs and guns, in the past days, on the newspaper Nouvelis, which has existed since its first date in 1898, it has been 126 years in the year 2024. There are many journalists who have received threats, like on the internet, because of how journalists are doing their work. It is a series of threats, which are under the feet of the freedom of journalists to exercise the profession of journalism properly. If nothing is done to stop these acts of brigandage against journalists, the country of Haiti can become an information desert, a silent area, an area where babouquets return, as during the dictatorship regime of the Divaliers. Journalists must be able to work without fear for their safety and life. There must be provisions to protect Haitian journalists. It is the short cry of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), on the occasion of May 3, which is the World Press Freedom Day.
The US Embassy in Haiti says it takes its hat off to the professional courage of women and men, who are working tirelessly to make everyone aware, both in the country of Haiti and in the rest of the world, know what is happening in their country. d Haiti. The United States government says it is committed to supporting with all its strength freedom of the press in the country of Haiti. This is the message of the new US ambassador to Haiti, Dennis Bruce Hankins, on the occasion of May 3, which is World Press Freedom Day.
In the year 2024, the journalism profession will be subjected to great political pressure. The political authorities, who are supposed to be willing to guarantee the freedom of the press, are the ones who make threats and attacks on the freedom of the press in the world. This is what Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wrote in its report on the situation of freedom of the press around the world, which was made public on May 3, 2024.
