In view of the upcoming World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2018, the ICT4Peace Foundation is proud to recall that ICT4Peace Vice-President Alain Modoux, in his former capacity as Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Freedom of expression, Democracy and Peace has been the creator of the World Press Freedom Day, which was subsequently approved by the General Assembly in December 1993. For this achievement he received on 3 May 2013 in Costa Rica the Taino Medal by the UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova “en reconnaissance de sa contribution exceptionnelle à la création de la Journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse ».
Alain Modoux, has recently published his professional memoirs in French under the title “La Diplomatie des mains vides” (“Empty-handed Diplomacy”).
This story, written in the form of a trilogy, recounts the many challenges that Alain Modoux has had to face throughout his career and which have led him to have to negotiate empty-handed to obtain the release of men, women, even children prisoners or hostages, then to promote and defend freedom of expression and its corollary freedom of the press. Empty-handed negotiation for freedom is the common thread of this story which runs over 36 years, 24 years in the service of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1965-1989), then 12 years in that of UNESCO in Paris (1989-2001).
The first part of the trilogy, entitled “Mutual trust, the keystone of empty-hand diplomacy”, deals with Alain Modoux’s activities as ICRC delegate in Vietnam (1965-1966), where his mission was brutally interrupted following a serious war accident caused by the explosion of an anti-personnel mine. He then recounts the negotiations he conducted as head of the ICRC delegation in Lebanon after the Six Day war (1967) for the release of prisoners of war and civilian internees,
The second part of the book, subtitled “Communication as an integral component of humanitarian diplomacy”, is devoted to the institutional communication of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which Alain Modoux directed for 19 years, from 1970 to 1989. As ICRC spokesman, he set up and consolidated an effective communication structure entrusted with the task of making the institution’s activities, the principles guiding them and the basic rules of the humanitarian law better known and understood worldwide, including in the conflict areas.
Finally, the third part of the trilogy, entitled “Proxy diplomacy, Africa on the front line”, is devoted to the action that the author developed under the UNESCO Director-General’s leadership to restore the Organization’s credibility as the specialized agency within the United Nations system whose purpose is “to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image” (Article I of the Constitution). This credibility was seriously undermined in the 1980s by the sterile and bitter controversies that characterised the debate over the establishment of the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO), perceived by many as a threat to media freedom. Alain Modoux describes the many initiatives that UNESCO has taken since the fall of the Berlin Wall to promote and defend the independence, freedom and pluralism of the media and thus become the champion of press freedom in the intergovernmental system. Most of these actions are part of what he has called the “Windhoek Process”, a strategy aimed at democratizing the international media landscape. The Organization launched the process in May 1991 at the Windhoek Seminar and then extended it to all continents. African journalists gathered in the Namibian capital gave him the first impetus. They were then relayed by a handful of African diplomats based in Paris, Geneva (ECOSOC) and New York (UN GA), who resolutely supported the proposals put forward at the seminar. One of the most significant outcomes of this process was the decision by the United Nations General Assembly to proclaim 3 May, the anniversary of the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration, “World Press Freedom Day”.
According to the Permanent Delegate of Niger and President, in the 1990s, of the African Group at UNESCO, “the Windhoek Declaration is Africa’s contribution to the edifice of human rights”. In recognition of his commitment to freedom of expression, Alain Modoux was appointed in 1989 UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace. He is the only senior civil servant who has ever received such a prestigious title in UNESCO’s history.
The French version of the book can be ordered online here.
An English version is in preparation and will be available soon.