May 3 is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day
It has been a long time, however, that the World Press Freedom Day in Armenia has become an occasion not to congratulate the professional holiday of journalists, but to speak up for the ongoing harassment of the press and freedom of speech in the country.
Unfortunately, the oppression of journalists and mass media employees by the representatives of the government and the violence by law enforcement agencies have become a common phenomenon for the Armenian press. Their systematic nature, the impunity of the crimes committed against journalists raise a reasonable doubt that the repression against the press takes place with the permission, patronage, and sometimes direct instruction of the political authorities.
The intolerance shown by the Armenian government against freedom of press and speech actually has deep political motives. In the country, where the systems of checks and balances, which are of fundamental importance for democracy, do not actually work, the press has remained the only sub-system that counterbalances the government and controls the actions of the government. Therefore, by fighting against the freedom of speech and press, the government solves the anti-democratic problem of strengthening the positions of the authoritarian pyramid, putting its activities outside of public control.
Unfortunately, these actions of the authorities, especially recently, have been taking place in the conditions of indifference, mostly silence, of some international organizations and embassies dealing with the issues of democracy and freedom of the press in Armenia for decades, which in turn raises a reasonable doubt that for the sake of geopolitical goals, most of them are ready to tolerate the violation of their own declared values.
On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, the Union of Journalists of Armenia congratulates and deeply thanks its international partners, “International Federation of Journalists” and “European Federation of Journalists” (IFJ, EFJ), as well as the Council of Europe (CoE) ” Safety of Journalists Platform” for principle and consistency.
The Union of Journalists of Armenia congratulates all media workers on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, wishing them to continue to be faithful to their professional duty, not to resist the pressures aimed at freedom of speech and to do everything possible to establish the real and irreversible freedom of speech and press in Armenia.
UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF ARMENIA