The Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent and Pluralistic Press, the Windhoek Declaration for short, is a statement of press freedom principles by African newspaper journalists in 1991. The Declaration was produced at a UNESCO seminar, "Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press," held in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, from 29 April to 3 May 1991.[1]
The date of the Declaration's adoption, May 3, has subsequently been declared as World Press Freedom Day. The document has been viewed as widely influential, as the first in a series of such declarations around the world, and as a crucial affirmation of the international community's commitment to freedom of the press. Subsequently, several similar documents were drafted in other parts of the developing world: The Alma-Ata Declaration for central Asia, Sana'a Declaration for the Middle East, and the Santiago Declaration for Latin America and the Caribbean.[2] At the tenth anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, however, the United Nations jubilee statement noted the fragility of press freedom in the face of political violence or authoritarianism.