Dear team leaders, team members, correspondents, volunteers, members, donors and partners,

This year again, RSF has demonstrated its ability to work with courage, determination, energy, enthusiasm and the necessary creativity to achieve significant successes.

Among other exploits, we coordinated Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova’s exfiltration from Russia, we obtained Olivier Dubois’ release after nearly two years of campaigning, and we even managed to get French-Afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi freed after he had spent 284 days being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

They thank you from the bottom of their heart in this video.

None of this would have been possible without you. 

I would like to express my pride in working with you all. Together, we succeed in making RSF a truly original organisation, one that is not just an expert in problems, but also an expert in proposals and solutions.

We are not satisfied with just denouncing. We also take concrete action in all areas. We put all our strength into the right to reliable news and information, which is everyone’s right, everywhere in the world.

As 2024 is likely to be a crucial year for our fight, I express my deep gratitude to you for your commitment, which makes all the difference. Our 2023 results are simply breath-taking, and our future projects are very ambitious.

All of us – team leaders, team members, correspondents, volunteers, members, donors and partners – we are united in support of the same ideal, that of a world and of nations in which freedom of opinion and expression is based on real facts.

A world where propaganda, manipulation of the facts, and fake news are reduced to a minimum, a world where accurate reporting dominates, which presupposes media freedom, independence, and pluralism, and of course fact checking and journalistic ethics.

We would be incomparably less effective if we did not have this shared commitment.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you

I wish you all excellent end-of-year festivities, and all the best for 2024.