The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, explained this year’s theme, freedom of information saying it included the principle that organizations and governments have a duty to share or provide ready access to information they hold, to anyone who wants it, based on the public’s right to be informed.

 The Director-General will present this year’s UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Mónica González Mujica, a Chilean champion of investigative journalism.

 “The right to know is central for upholding other basic rights, for furthering transparency, justice and development. Hand-in-hand with the complementary notion of freedom of expression, it underpins democracy,” Ms Bokova declared.

 During the celebration, participants will observe a minute of silence in tribute to the great number of journalists who have paid with their lives for our right to know.