The Ukraine Embassy and the Indonesian Media Journalists’ Association (IWO) held the World Press Freedom Day celebration at the Sumpah Pemuda Museum on Monday, May 6, 2024.
The World Press Freedom Day, on May 3, was first inaugurated in 1993 by the UN General Assembly, and celebrated yearly.
The event at the Sumpah Pemuda Museum was held to demonstrate the role of journalists in reporting humanitarian issues and for peace, commemorating 38th years of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) disaster while exhibiting many Ukrainian inventions and innovations during the event.
Chairman of IWO, Dwi Christianto, expressed hope that journalists can become the fourth pillar of democracy and earn respect from the wider society.
He highlighted the significant role of journalists in giving information, educating, and forming public opinion. Furthermore, journalists also play a role in the changing of social behavior.
Ukraine Ambassador to Indonesia, Vasyl Hamianin, said that history holds something crucial, and the three pillars such as ‘my country, my nation, and my language,’ are fundamental elements in the struggle for independence and freedom.
“Journalists are brave people who convey the truth to society,” Ambassador Hamianin said.
At the event, Ambassador Hamianin also thanked the Indonesian media persons who had traveled to Ukraine, making news about the Russian invasion. He hoped that journalists could contribute to peace, and a bridge for a better future.
“Make this world a better place,” he said.
The event also exhibited the documentary film titled ‘Chornobyl-2022’, a film based on true events which tells the story of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) workers when Russia launched its military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2024.
The Chernobyl NPP, a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioned due to a catastrophic explosion in its core because of human negligence in 1986 which is known as the Chernobyl disaster, is located near an abandoned city of Pripyat in North of Ukraine, near the Belarus border.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, an invasion as part of the ongoing escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that started in 2022, which until now has been ongoing.
Mediazona, a Russian opposition media outlet in collaboration with BBC Russia had recorded 51,679 Russian military casualties, and 42,000 Ukrainian military casualties as of February 2024.
