Canada, Britain give first media freedom award to Belarus journalists

OTTAWA: The first ever Media Freedom Award, bestowed by the governments of Britain and Canada, was given Monday to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the foreign ministries of the two countries said.

The prize aims to promote international action to bolster security for journalists around the world, according to Canada’s Foreign Minister FrancoisPhilippe Champagne and his British counterpart Dominic Raab.

It was awarded to the independent Belarusian journalists union Monday at the end of the second global conference on press freedom, hosted virtually by Canada and Botswana.

The Belarusian group was “singled out for its ongoing commitment to journalistic ethics and principles and its perseverance and self-sacrifice in the face of increased targeted crackdowns on media in Belarus,” the Canadian government said in a statement.

With 1,300 members, the Minskbased association had already received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Union in 2004.