Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo Selected for 2019 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize
- Two Reuters journalists named Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone from Myanmar have been named for UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize for the year 2019 as a tribute to their courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression.
- Both the reporters are currently serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar since 12 December 2017.
- They were arrested because, while working for the Reuters news agency they documented a taboo topic regarding alleged human rights violations and crimes committed against Rohingyas in Myanmar’s state of Rakhine.
- The Prize will be awarded to the duo on 2 May as part of the celebration of World Press Freedom Day which falls on 3 May.
The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997, to honour a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.