Thursday Mar 12, 2026
Thursday Mar 12, 2026
Thursday, 12 March 2026 04:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Sri Lanka has condemned the attempts of the Russian Embassy in Colombo to limit freedom of expression and the public’s right to information over demands to remove photographs related to Russia’s war in Ukraine from the World Press Photo Exhibition.
A statement issued by the Dutch Embassy noted that the Russian Ambassador visited the exhibition during the weekend (7-8 March) and demanded that photographs related to Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine be removed, whilst warning to stage a protest if the organisers failed to comply.
“The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands deplores the attempts by any party to compromise the people’s right to know and right to freedom of expression. It also amounts to a violation of the host country’s sovereignty if an embassy attempts to decide what and which content its citizens should see and not,” it added.
The 2025 edition of the World Press Photo Exhibition was officially opened on 27 February at One Galle Face by Mass Media Deputy Minister Dr. Kaushalya Ariyaratne and Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Wiebe de Boer.
The Exhibition is jointly organised by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Sri Lanka Press Institute, and the World Press Photo Foundation in the Netherlands.
The statement added that the Russian Embassy has also approached Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Ministry requesting that the same photographs be removed from the Exhibition scheduled to be held in Kandy from 13-17 March at Sahas Uyana.
As per the Dutch Embassy, the same exhibition is currently underway in the US and Germany and is showing all around the world in dozens of countries with freedom of expression.
“While we, as the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, assure the Sri Lankan public of our commitment to protect press freedom and respect for editorial integrity, we will continue the exhibition in Kandy with its full content without censoring any photos of the exhibition,” it added.
The statement noted that the photographs in question are also freely accessible online through the World Press Photo website.
The Embassy added that the Exhibition is open to the public free-of-charge from 10:30 a.m. on 13-17 March at Sahas Uyana in Kandy.
