May 3 is World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression.

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the Guillermo Cano Award to a deserving individual, or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journal who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador in Bogota on 17 December 1986. Cano’s writings had offended Colombia’s powerful drug barons.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, journalists from Myanmar, are the recipients of the 2019 award for their coverage crimes committed against Rohingyas.