Vienna — Resolution on WSIS
Meeting at its Annual General Assembly on 15 September 2003 in Salzburg, Austria, the IPI membership unanimously passed a resolution stating that Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press must be central to any conception of an information society.
The guiding principle on Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the News Media at the forthcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) should be Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
This principle, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, has come to be recognized as international customary law. But that law is unfortunately not respected by a large number of governments.
The International Press Institute is deeply concerned that the draft texts being negotiated for the WSIS do not recognize the importance of implementing Article 19. Instead, they refer to highly troubling and discredited concepts such as "Right to Communicate" and "responsibility" and "accountability" of news media.
History has shown that, at best, these are dangerously vague and overly broad; at worst, they legitimize direct threats to freedom of the press.
Article 19 needs to be implemented, for the traditional media as well as for media using such new information technologies as Internet and Direct Satellite Broadcasting.
Security and other considerations should not be allowed to compromise Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the News Media.
Traditional news media, such as broadcasting and print press, will continue to play an important part in the Information Society, and news media using the new Information and Communication Technologies should strengthen this role.
WSIS should also affirm that state-controlled media should be transformed into editorially-independent public service organizations or independent private outlets.
Furthermore, it is hard to understand how a world summit devoted to advancing the free flow of information could consider holding its second meeting in 2005 in Tunisia, a country that violates its free speech and press freedom commitments by censoring its press and jailing journalists who issue critical reports.
WSIS should suspend its plans to meet in Tunis until the Tunisian government has shown that it honours freedom of the press.
Resolution on South Korea
Meeting at its Annual General Meeting on 15 September 2003 in Salzburg, the IPI membership unanimously passed a resolution condemning continuing attempts by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to intimidate and harass major independent newspapers.
For example, speaking at a conference to evaluate the government's progress in office and attended by more than 130 cabinet ministers, vice ministers and other staff, Roh accused the media of "trampling on government officials." and said he would not tolerate "the tyranny of the privileged media."
Roh later called for the strict enforcement of alleged unfair business practices within the newspaper industry, claimed the government had a right to sue the media through the courts, and hinted at the need for an ombudsman to oversee the media's activities.
The president's attack on the media came only days after newspapers had exposed the alleged corruption of his personal secretary, Yang Gil-Seung. After fighting to retain the beleaguered secretary Roh was eventually forced to accept his resignation.
One day after the angry statements of Roh, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it would investigate 200 newspaper distribution centres and more than 2,000 readers nationwide for 40 days to check for evidence of unfair trading. An FTC spokesperson said the timing of the announcement was unrelated to the president's remarks.
IPI is deeply troubled by the situation in South Korea. Rather than upholding the media's right of independence, the present government appears set on a course of confrontation with selected media. Indeed, the speed with which the FTC investigation was launched, coming so soon after Roh's speech, shows that the full power of the government is once again being mobilized against some print media.
With its close similarities to the previous administration's tax investigations of the newspapers, the FTC's investigation is evidence that attacks on the media are seen by government as the best means of diverting the Korean public's attention away from more important issues. Moreover, the threat to use the courts is an attempt to stifle the critical major newspapers, although it is a firm principle of international law that officials must accept greater scrutiny than private persons.
The membership of IPI calls on President Roh-Moo-hyun to respect journalists' right to report freely and to refrain from using the institutions of government as the instruments of media harassment and intimidation.
Resolution on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Meeting at its Annual General Meeting on 15 September 2003 in Salzburg, the IPI membership unanimously passed a resolution criticising the decision of the committee on non-governmental organisations ("the committee") under the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to suspend Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for one year.
The decision to revoke the press freedom organisation's consultative status at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights came after RSF vigorously protested Libya assuming the chair of the 54-member organisation. At a meeting on 24 July 2003, 27 countries voted in favour of RSF's suspension, 23 voted against and four abstained. Furthermore, those countries that sought RSF's suspension have threatened to prolong it.
The committee ignored Part IV, Section 56 of the ECOSOC Statute which states that non-governmental organisations shall have an opportunity to respond to committee recommendations.
By choosing to act in this manner, the committee has committed a material breach of its own procedures, blithely set aside the rules of natural justice and undermined one of the fundamental principles of Article 10 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states "everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal."
The failure to follow this procedure has grave consequences for not only the reputation of the Commission on Human Rights but also the United Nations as a whole. Given the appalling human rights record of Cuba and Libya, who originally complained of RSF's actions, IPI is worried that the Commission on Human Rights is in danger of adopting the same attitudes and tactics toward those who have a legitimate right to show dissent and express themselves.
This viewpoint is further reinforced when the rights records of those countries voting for RSF's suspension are examined. Of the 27 countries who voted in favour, several are viewed as some of the world's most repressive regimes by Freedom House, while the Russian Federation and Zimbabwe are on the IPI Watch List of countries where press freedom is regressing.
If the present situation is allowed to continue, the rightful position of the United Nations as the world's premier human rights body is in danger of being tarnished. Were that day to come about, those countries who have shown their persistent disdain for human rights will have won an invaluable victory.
The membership of IPI therefore calls upon the committee to rescind the original decision against RSF and return to the organisation its consultative status. In addition, the United Nations must review the present situation in the Commission on Human Rights and formulate new rules to prevent the usurpation of human rights by a broad alliance of repressive regimes.
Finally, the IPI membership asks the Secretary-General of the United Nations to remind the countries on the Commission on Human Rights of the right of everyone to "hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers," as stated in Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Resolution on Zimbabwe
Members of the International Press Institute (IPI) at their annual general assembly in Salzburg, Austria, on September 15, reacted with shock to the news of the closure at gunpoint by the Zimbabwe government of the daily, the Daily News. They unanimously condemned the action of armed police which they said was an attempt by the government to stifle the lone daily critical voice in the media.
The closure followed the refusal of the Zimbabwe Supreme Court to hear the newspaper's urgent challenge - lodged late last year - of the constitutionality of a repressive media law. Not only does the Daily News, the most vocal opponent of government policies, regard the law as unconstitutional but so do international media and legal experts.
The law in question is a part of the Access to Information and protection of Privacy Act which requires news organizations and journalists to register with the government-appointed Media and Information Commission before they are allowed to practice journalism.
IPI members were equally critical of the court's refusal to consider the constitutionality issue instead declaring that the paper was operating in "defiance of the law" because it had not registered.
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On 12 September, armed police forced their way into the paper's offices and shepherded the staff out of the building, telling them that they were working illegally in the building and that the paper would not be allowed to appear on the streets.
IPI also fears that in the wake of the action against the Daily News, the authorities will now crack down on journalists who have not registered.
The IPI believes that the newspaper, having now been forced to register, may be compromised in continuing its constitutional challenge.
The IPI calls on the government to withdraw its police and allow the newspaper to continue publishing and to scrap all repressive media legislation.
Resolution on Anti-Terrorism Laws
The International Press Institute (IPI) annual general assembly in Salzburg, Austria, on 15 September expressed alarm at the global proliferation of anti-terrorist legislation which has made deep inroads into freedom of expression and media freedom.
While IPI shares the concerns of the United Nations and its member states about the rise of terrorism and the need to combat it, it believes that many countries have reverted, or are on the point of reverting, to unacceptable repression of the media and freedom of expression as part of the international campaign against terrorism.
At best, this may be an unintended consequence of this legislation; at worst, it is an insidious attempt to introduce controls on the media under the guise of fighting terrorism.
According to the New York-based Freedom House, countries with populations totaling 100 million or more have been downgraded from "free" to "partially free" as a result of such legislation.
There can be no justification for causing a decrease in the flow of information or curbing the freedom of the media in the so-called interest of fighting terrorism.
The IPI believes that the maximum transparency about terrorism is the best way of combating this evil and calls on governments tasked with the onerous task of combating it, to ensure that they do not curb the media in its role of gathering and publishing the news in the public interest.
