Kabul: Free and independent media in Afghanistan is steadily being destroyed, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, said Saturday on World Press Freedom Day.

According to Namibia Press Agency, Afghanistan’s media sector has suffered a sharp decline in revenue due to the economic crisis, forcing many outlets to close. Afghan authorities have imposed significant restrictions on media work, resulting in “media professionals facing threats, arrests and detention, and torture and ill-treatment, with women journalists being especially hard hit by disproportionate risks and barriers,” the statement added.

“A diverse and healthy media sector is indispensable in ensuring transparency, public trust, and good governance. But in Afghanistan we are seeing the steady erosion of a free and independent media,” Otunbayeva said.

She added that World Press Freedom Day is an important reminder of the vital role journalists and media play in Afghanistan, serving as the foundation of an informed and dynamic society, and called for the protection of their work.

At the same time, the swift development of artificial intelligence poses a threat to Afghan media as it can be misused to reproduce misinformation, increase hate speech and “enable new forms of censorship and surveillance of journalists and citizens,” UNESCO Representative in Afghanistan Patricia McPhillips said.

“On World Press Freedom Day, the United Nations in Afghanistan expresses its solidarity with the country’s media sector, where challenges including de facto authority restrictions and economic constraints are threatening public access to essential information,” UNAMA said in a statement.