The editor-in-chief of the Guyana Publications Inc. (Stabroek News) Anand Persaud was on Thursday evening awarded the 2022 European Union Delegation Human Rights Award.
He was recognised for his active role in highlighting international issues in his published writing and working tirelessly to promote the values of the European Union.
European Union Ambassador René Van Nes presented the award to Persaud during a brief award ceremony at the ambassador’s residence at Bel Air Springs, Georgetown.
During his acceptance speech, Persaud highlighted the importance of journalists in bringing awareness to human rights issues that countries are challenged with.
“I accept this on behalf of all of those here who toil in journalism, and who do this unfailingly and unstintingly.”
“They are definitely among the unsung heroes in this country and they should be recognized, and they should be treated with respect,” Persaud said.
The recipient mentioned various occasions where journalists have been brutally murdered while trying to gather information on serious human rights violations in countries. Sometimes their own, sometime a foreign land they were deployed to investigate.
He said these injustices that are deemed acceptable by the nations in which they occurred must be held accountable and the freedom of the press must not be demolished.
“We must never have those things happen again. If this means anything today, it’s an understanding that there’s a special role of the press, and we must ensure that we never go back to the dark and bad days of the past,” he said.
Journalist Fredid Roman was the latest media worker killed in Mexico. His death brought the total of journalists murdered while investigating human rights violations in the country to at least 15 this year alone, according to monitoring groups.
