Nicaragua exits UNESCO over press freedom award | Australian Markets

UNESCO has introduced Nicaragua is withdrawing from the UN cultural and academic physique as a result of the organisation awarded a prize celebrating press freedom to Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa.

UNESCO’s director normal, Audrey Azoulay, introduced that she had acquired a letter on Sunday morning from the Nicaraguan authorities saying its withdrawal as a result of of the attribution of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

“I regret this decision, which will deprive the people of Nicaragua of the benefits of cooperation, particularly in the fields of education and culture,” Azoulay stated in a assertion.

“UNESCO is fully within its mandate when it defends freedom of expression and press freedom around the world.”

Nicaragua was one of 194 member states in UNESCO.

The physique’s members set up the press freedom prize in 1997, and the 2025 award was attributed on Saturday to La Prensa on the advice of an worldwide jury of media professionals.

“The newspaper La Prensa has made valiant efforts to bring the truth to the people of Nicaragua,” President of the worldwide jury of media professionals Yasuomi Sawa stated.

“Like other civil society organisations, La Prensa has faced severe repression. Forced into exile, this newspaper bravely maintains the flame of press freedom.”

La Prensa is Nicaragua’s oldest newspaper and was based in 1926.

It has confronted and survived three dictatorships, censorship, closures, assaults, the imprisonment of its journalists, and the assassination of its director, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, in 1978, in line with the Inter American Press Association.

Authorities in Nicaragua tried to financially suffocate the newspaper by blocking the importation of paper since 2018.

It was compelled to concentrate on digital news and droop its print version in August 2021 after “it was subjected to a violent police raid resulting in the confiscation of its assets, the freezing of its bank accounts, and the unjust imprisonment of its general manager,” the affiliation stated.

“La Prensa has never ceased reporting for a single day. Its editorial team crossed into Costa Rica under emergency conditions and continues its work in exile today,” the affiliation stated.

The awards ceremony will happen in Brussels, Belgium, on the sidelines of the World Press Freedom Conference on Wednesday.

“Each year, this prize reminds us of the importance of standing by those who protect and bring information to life,” Azoulay stated.

In saying their UNESCO withdrawal, Nicaraguan authorities accused La Prensa of selling “military and political interventions by the United States in Nicaragua” and denounced the award of the prize because the “diabolical expression of a traitorous anti-patriotic sentiment,” UNESCO stated.

Nicaragua’s offended departure is a blow for the organisation that can be within the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump.

In an government order in February, Trump known as for a review of American involvement in UNESCO.

In his first time period as president, the Trump administration in 2017 introduced that the US would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias.

That determination took impact a 12 months later.

The United States formally rejoined UNESCO in 2023 after a five-year absence, beneath the presidency of Joe Biden.