Every year, May 3rd marks a day of celebration of the fundamental principles of press freedom and to evaluate press freedom around the world. UNESCO leads the worldwide celebration by identifying the global theme and organizing the main event in a different part of the world each year. In Jordan, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness, Princess Rym Ali, the UNESCO Amman Office has been organizing the annual WPFD festivities.

In 2016, a panel discussion was facilitated related to the global theme, “Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms: This Is Your Right!” Speakers discussed the access to information law and focused on the key issues surrounding journalists’ access to information.

In 2017, the celebration consisted of two substantive debates following the theme, “Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies,” which brought together media professionals, human rights advocates, law and policy makers, civil society organizations, and academics to highlight the central role of freedom of expression and the right to information in the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab World.