Today, May 3rd, 2026, in Erbil, Kani Omar, Project Director of Metro Center, participated in a special meeting organized by the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Kurdistan Region.

The event was attended by Adrian Eiselstein, Consul General of the Netherlands, Bertrale Snoyer, Deputy Consul General and senior consulate staff.

The meeting was attended by representatives of some media channels, who discussed the environment of journalism in the Kurdistan Region, opportunities and obstacles facing their freedom of work.

Kani Omar, a representative of Metro Center, highlighted some obstacles facing journalism and said that the journalism law is not fully implemented. Two journalists have been sentenced to prison. Last year, 315 violations were recorded against 252 journalists and media channels. NRT channel is shut down in Erbil and Duhok and in Sulaymaniyah, the studio of Zoom TV has been occupied, and violations, harassment, intimidation of journalists, prevention of coverage and attacks on field journalists continue. And lastly, Political money dominates the journalistic scene and is used for useless political warfare.

Another topic of the meeting was to discuss the working environment of women journalists and the challenges they face daily while working inside and outside their institutions.

This year, UNESCO is celebrating World Press Freedom Day in Lusaka, Zambia, under the slogan "Shaping a Future at Peace: Promoting Press Freedom for Human Rights”.

The slogan "Shaping a Future at Peace: Promoting Press Freedom for Human Rights” shows that the duty of free and independent media is not only to transmit news, but also to promote a culture of dialogue and build bridges of understanding between nations.