On 3 May 2017, the UNESCO Khartoum Office together with the Sudanese Ministry of Information, National Commission for Education, Science and Culture and Journalist Union organized in the Khartoum / Omdurman / Bahri metropolis the celebration of the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2017 under the theme “Critical Minds for Critical Times”. The event took place in the Ministry of Information and was supported by the UNESCO Cairo office and the Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture.

The event was chaired by Dr. Yahia Fadl Allah, the General Director of the National Press Council. During opening ceremony Dr. Yassir Khidir, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information, Mr. Alsdig Alrezaigi, the general director of the Sudanese Journalists Union, Dr. Abdel Mahmoud, the Sudanese National Commission of Education, Science and Culture, and Dr. Aiman Badri, the UNESCO Khartoum office, welcomed the participants. Dr. Aiman Badri delivered to the public the message of Ms. Irina Bokova, the General Director of UNESCO, on occasion of the World Press Freedom Day 2017.

The points of the following discussion included: highlighting the need in further capacity building for journalists, developing institutions of intellectual property in media to protect the work of the journalists and photographers, and the documenting publications of journalists to protect their rights and to ensure their presence globally. The participants paid tribute to Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Access to Public Information as the basement for Good Public Governance and Freedom of People – underlining general understanding of the Sustainable Development Goal 16, target 10: “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms”.

During the celebration, two media professionals were honored because of their contributions to the media sector: Dr. Mohamed Ismail Alomarabi, the chief editor of Algamhour Sports News Letter and Ms. Souad Abdallh Hamid, a journalist working on diplomatic and sovereign issues.