May Chidiac winner of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2006 meets with the Director-General Este elemento no está disponible en Español.Está disponible actualmente en Inglés, Francés. 12-04-2006 - The Lebanese journalist May Chidiac, winner of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2006*, was received at UNESCO, on 11 April, by the Director-General.

During the meeting, in the presence of Ms Samia Hanna-El-Daher, Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Lebanon to UNESCO, May Chidiac thanked the Director-General and the members of the independent jury who had awarded her and through her the Lebanese journalists who have been victims of several murderous attacks.

She also underscored the importance that UNESCO’s support to freedom of expression and freedom of the press represents to those working in the professional media. She stressed her determination to resume her career as journalist despite the amputations she suffered from a car bomb attack in September 2005.

The Director-General expressed his satisfaction with the 2006 edition of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize which a journalist of “immense courage” whose “determination remains intact” despite the physical challenges she must surmount. He also welcomed the news that Ms Chidiac would be able to receive the prize in person in Sri Lanka on 3 May next, on World Press Freedom Day.

On this occasion, Mr Matsuura reiterated that he needed the help of the Member States of UNESCO to defend freedom of expression and ensure the safest possible conditions for journalists in order to permit them to carry out their profession at a time when the number of media professionals, are wounded, taken hostage or killed during their work continues to grow.

* The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is awarded annually on World Press Freedom Day (3 May). The 2006 prize, worth US $25,000, is financed this year by the Guillermo Cano Foundation, James and David Ottaway - respectively a former reporter from the Washington Post and a former Chairperson of the World Press Freedom Committee - and UNESCO.

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Fuente	Flash Info n°57-2006