Freedom of Press
During a 1991 UNESCO Conference that was held in Namibia, a group of African journalists gathered to denounce the rampant censorship and suppression of information being perpetrated by governments and regimes throughout Africa. These journalists declared to the World that the reporting of the truth in a nation with an oppressive government or regime will lead only to the journalist being beaten or mutilated, imprisoned, even killed.
The journalists presented a document, known as the Windhoek Declaration, which detailed the hardships faced by journalists and requested that protections be created for both the journalists and for the free flow of information. They simply wanted, and were asking for, what everyone should want and demand: “An independent, pluralistic, and Free Press”.
On May 3, 1991, the pleas of the journalists and the Windhoek Declaration were finally acknowledged by the United Nations (UN) when the General Assembly proclaimed that every May 3 would be celebrated as World Press Day. The UN intended that this holiday would cause governments to remember the Windhoek Declaration and to support Freedom of Press and Freedom of Expression, and to acknowledge inherent Human Rights.
Today, Universal Divinity Ministry™ (UDM) works with independent journalists across Africa, and we find every day that being a journalist in Africa is still as dangerous as it ever was. Telling any truth that is evidence of government corruption or incompetence is often illegal and the charge is espionage. Journalists can be charged with espionage for telling the truth. As is generally the case in the Real World, the UN initiative was an almost unnoticed failure.
Though World Press Day has passed, UDM wants to celebrate the journalists who are underfunded, unappreciated, and usually relatively unknown to the world at large. These are the people who allow journalism to retain its last shred of integrity. They suffer to get the truth, which is often buried deep in the Bush, and they risk imprisonment and death by reporting it. These journalists do not sensationalize. They do not report fake news. They do not have an agenda beyond raising awareness by sharing the truth and hoping that it will drive change in their countries.
Universal Divinity Ministry wants to recognize the journalists who are responsible for bringing you news that governments and corporations don't want you to know. What these journalists do is so dangerous that we cannot even acknowledge them by name. Each of them would be in danger from their own government if their identities were to become known. UDM works confidentially with all of the journalists who have entrusted us.
We are grateful to the brave journalists that World Press Day was created to protect. We are saddened that the initiative has failed and that journalists are still threatened and imprisoned, tortured and mutilated, killed, on a daily basis across Africa.
UDM rests upon a foundation of Truth. We will continue to support independent journalists and partners, who risk everything to bring to Light the Truths that those in power want to remain in darkness. We will be publishing stories of Ecological, Environmental, and Humanitarian importance. We truly believe that people will respond to honest and truthful reporting of the news, and WE NEED people to respond so that things can get better.
To every journalist who is in the field, getting the hard stories that the mainstream media represses, we salute you. You are social justice warriors in the truest sense, and all of you are heroes. May the Creator always guide you to the Truth.
These bringers of truth are in desperate need of support and funding. UDM asks you to partner with us in aiding our journalists and friends as they risk everything to bring us the TRUTH. Any donation will be used to provide food, medicine, transportation, and other expenses incurred by our journalists. This is the very beginning for UDM International Press™, our newest initiative, and we thank you for joining us.