The Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in association with UNESCO and the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) will be organizing a special seminar on the 3rd of May 2008 in Dhaka, Bangladesh to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2008.
 

Following the successful first South Asian World Press Freedom Day event held in the Maldives last year, this year’s event will focus on UNESCO’s theme for the 2008 WPFD: "Access to information and the empowerment of people".
 

Stemming from the UNESCO General Conference (1991) that recognised that a free, pluralistic and independent press was an essential component of any democratic society, the General Assembly in 1993 declared 3 May as World Press Freedom Day. The Day serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom - a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
 

UNESCO, as the intergovernmental organisation with a constitutional mandate to "promote the free flow of ideas by word and image", observes WPFD to highlight the importance of press freedom and the fundamental human right of freedom of expression. Thus, AMIC along with UNB is glad to join hands with UNESCO to organize this year’s South Asian event.
 

Bangladesh, and South Asia in general, have witnessed a severe erosion of journalistic freedoms in recent years. Thus, it is an appropriate time to explore how access to pluralistic sources of information across the region could be improved in order to empower the people in a region where severe developmental challenges still persist.