News

On 3 May, the World Press Freedom Day is observed. On the eve, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Mantas Adomėnas spoke remotely during the annual World Press Freedom Day Global Conference, which was held in a hybrid format in Punta Del Este, Uruguay. The conference addressed challenges posed to media freedom by authoritarian regimes, the persecution of journalists and independent media, as well as the spread of disinformation.

Adomėnas emphasized dangers of propaganda and disinformation in the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, calling on governments, social media platforms to strengthen the resilience of independent media and to prevent disinformation from attempting to create an alternate reality in order to justify crimes committed in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.

Adomėnas also congratulated the Belarusian Association of Journalists on receiving this year's UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, which was awarded at the conference. The Foreign Vice-Minister thanked Belarusian journalists for the courage to defend democratic values in the fight against the authoritarian regime.

Permanent Delegations to UNESCO of Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Germany to UNESCO have nominated the Belarusian Association of Journalists for the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2022.

The safety of journalists and media freedom are among Lithuania’s foreign policy priorities. Lithuania actively participates in the United Nations Human Rights Council, as well as in other international human rights fora, urging the international community to fulfill its international obligations concerning the right to freedom of expression, the safety of journalists, and media workers.

On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, Lithuania joined international statements supporting objective, independent media, especially journalists working in the face of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. It is worth mentioning the statement by the EU and its member states that unanimously condemns actions by Russian soldiers who are detaining, abducting and deliberately targeting journalists.

Lithuania has also joined joint statements by international groups of friends on the safety of journalists at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe and  the Media Freedom Coalition.

Lithuania and other co-chairs of the United Nations Group of Friends for the Protection of Journalists in New York, the United States, is organising a meeting with the UNESCO Office on the situation of journalists and media representatives in Ukraine and on the organisation’s assistance to journalists,  who are covering the war, their protection and support for their work.
 
According to the Council of Europe's platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists, at least 10 Ukrainian and international journalists have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including Lithuanian documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius, who was killed in Mariupol.