BAJ awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2022

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ) was formed in 1995 as a non-gov­ern­men­tal asso­ci­a­tion of media work­ers with the objec­tive of pro­mot­ing free­dom of expres­sion and inde­pe­nent jour­nal­ism in Belarus. It brings togeth­er over 1300 asso­ci­at­ed jour­nal­ists, and  is a mem­ber of the Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (IFJ) and of the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (EFJ).

In August 2021, fol­low­ing the raid­ing by police of its offices in Belarus, the Supreme Court of Belarus ordered the dis­so­lu­tion of the orga­ni­za­tion, at the request of the country’s Min­istry of Jus­tice.

By award­ing the prize to the BAJ, we are stand­ing by all jour­nal­ists around the world who crit­i­cize, oppose and expose author­i­tar­i­an politi­cians and regimes by trans­mit­ting truth­ful infor­ma­tion and pro­mot­ing free­dom of expres­sion. Today we salute and praise them; we find a way to say: we are with you and we val­ue your courage.

Alfred LelaChair of the Prize‘s inter­na­tion­al jury, and founder and direc­tor of an Alban­ian media orga­ni­za­tion

For twen­ty-five years, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize has been call­ing the world’s atten­tion to the brav­ery of jour­nal­ists around the world who sac­ri­fice so much in the pur­suit of truth and account­abil­i­ty. Once again, we are inspired by their exam­ple and remind­ed of the impor­tance of ensur­ing the right of jour­nal­ists every­where to report freely and safe­ly.

Audrey Azoulay­Di­rec­tor-Gen­er­al of UNESCO

About the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

The $25,000 Prize rec­og­nizes out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to the defence or pro­mo­tion of press free­dom espe­cial­ly in the face of dan­ger. It is named after Guiller­mo Cano Isaza, the Colom­bian jour­nal­ist who was assas­si­nat­ed in front of the offices of his news­pa­per El Espec­ta­dor in Bogotá, Colom­bia, on 17 Decem­ber 1986. It is fund­ed by the Guiller­mo Cano Isaza Foun­da­tion (Colom­bia), the Helsin­gin Sanomat Foun­da­tion (Fin­land), the Namib­ia Media Trust, Democ­ra­cy & Media Foun­da­tion Sticht­ing Democ­ra­tie & Media (The Nether­lands), and the Thom­son Reuters Foun­da­tion.

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