By Gediminas Varanavicius, EU Chargé d’Affaires

Having lived under Soviet communism in Lithuania in the 1980s, I witnessed first-hand the dangerous effects of state control of the press, including censorship and misinformation. That experience fuels my commitment today, as an EU diplomat in the 21st century, to advocate for press freedom, freedom of expression and human rights as founding values of the European Union. These same values are also protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Kuwait’s Constitution.

I came to Kuwait in 2020, at a time when the world was still coming to grips with COVID-19 and the trail of misinformation it left in its wake. Fortunately, journalists in Kuwait were able to provide us with reliable information about the virus, which helped counter the spread of rising disinformation in the early days of the pandemic. A free press is essential to any healthy democracy, and journalists everywhere should be able to speak truth to power without fear of retribution.

Press freedom is also crucial to advancing human rights, which is why we join UNESCO today, on the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, in highlighting freedom of expression as a driver of all other human rights. The EU remains committed to defending and promoting freedom of opinion and expression, one of the key human rights principles outlined in our “Strategic Partnership with the Gulf”, an important roadmap for broadening ties and expanding cooperation with the GCC states, including Kuwait.

Engagement with Kuwaiti media professionals is a concrete example of this cooperation. More recently, as part of our strategic framework, the EU held a three-day workshop with the Information Ministry on strategic communications, bringing European experts to Kuwait to share best practices with our counterparts in the Kuwaiti government. There is ample room for expanding such cooperation further and sharing European expertise with our partners across the government and civil society.

In this day and age, protecting press freedom is everyone’s concern. The 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights later this year will also build new momentum for the international community to enhance pluralism and ensure freedom of expression as part of our shared commitment to advance human rights.