World’s Leading Jurists Call for Investigation into Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes in Burma
New report from Harvard Law School finds that UN documents on Burma provide grounds for investigation into international crimes; calls for more concerted UN action on Burma
Cambridge, MA - Five of the world’s leading international jurists have commissioned a report from the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, calling for the UN Security Council to act on more than fifteen years of condemnation from other UN bodies on human rights abuses in Burma. The Harvard report, Crimes in Burma, comes in the wake of renewed international attention on Burma, with the continued persecution of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. The report concludes with a call for the UN Security Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/documents/Crimes-in-Burma.pdf
The Harvard report is based on an analysis of scores of UN documents – including UN General Assembly and Commission on Human Rights resolutions, as well as reports from several different Special Rapporteurs. These indicate that human rights abuses in Burma are widespread, systematic, and part of state policy – legal terms that justify further investigation and strongly suggest Burma’s military regime may be committing crimes against humanity and war crimes prosecutable under international law. Major abuses cited by the United Nations include forced displacement of over 3,000 villages in eastern Burma, and widespread and systematic sexual violence, torture, and summary execution of innocent civilians.
Yet, despite such documentation from multiple UN organs, the UN Security Council has not moved to investigate potential crimes against humanity or war crimes in Burma, as it has in other areas of the world, including Darfur and Rwanda.
“Over and over again, UN resolutions and Special Rapporteurs have spoken out about the abuses that have been reported to them in Burma. The UN Security Council, however, has not moved the process forward as it should and has in similar situations such as those in the former Yugoslavia and Darfur,” the jurists write in the report’s preface. “In the cases of Yugoslavia and Darfur, once aware of the severity of the problem, the UN Security Council established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the gravity of the violations further. With Burma, there has been no such action from the UN Security Council despite being similarly aware of the widespread and systematic nature of the violations.”
The five jurists who commissioned the report, from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South Africa, are Judge Richard Goldstone (South Africa), Judge Patricia Wald (United States), Judge Pedro Nikken (Venezuela), Judge Ganzorig Gombosuren (Mongolia), and Sir Geoffrey Nice (United Kingdom). Among other accomplishments, Judge Goldstone served on South Africa’s Constitutional Court and was the first prosecutor at both the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. Judge Wald served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Judge Nikken served as President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Judge Gombosuren served as a Supreme Court Justice in Mongolia, and Sir Nice was the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the principal prosecution trial attorney in the case against Slobodan Milosevic in the Hague.
Each of the five jurists has dealt directly with severe human rights abuses in the international system, and all five call for the UN Security Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate and report on crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
The Harvard report specifically examines four international human rights violations documented by UN bodies over the past fifteen years: sexual violence, forced displacement, torture, and extrajudicial killings. The report focuses on UN documents since 2002, to allow examination of the most up-to-date UN material, although UN reports dating back to 1992 have consistently condemned a wide-range of violations in Burma.
Tyler Giannini, the Clinical Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School and one of the report’s authors, said its findings clearly demonstrate that a Commission of Inquiry on Burma should proceed.
“The UN Security Council has taken action regarding Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sudan when it identified information strongly suggesting the existence of crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Giannini. “As our research shows, UN documents clearly and authoritatively suggest that the human rights abuses occurring in Burma are not isolated incidents – they are potential crimes against humanity and war crimes. Failure by the UN Security Council to take action and investigate these crimes could mean that violations of international criminal law will go unchecked.”
For media interviews in the United States, please contact Michael Jones at 617-495-9214 or mijones@law.harvard.edu, or Julianne Stevenson at 617-682-5519 or jstevenson@llm09.law.harvard.edu. For media interviews in Thailand, please contact Tyler Giannini at +66 89 020 6646 or giannini@law.harvard.edu.
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/reports/report.aspx?s=eng&p=index
Human Rights First’s report, Baseless Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia: In the Dock and Under the Gun, examines the use of politically motivated criminal charges to harass, stigmatize, and endanger human rights defenders in Colombia. It is based on an analysis of 32 cases using primary documents as well as extensive interviews with government officials and human rights defenders. The first thorough review of the problem and its root causes, the report reveals a clear pattern of judicial mistreatment and persecution.
http://www.cohre.org/store/attachments/COHRE%20RWP%20MDGs%20publication.pdf
COHRE PUBLICATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND MDGS
The Right to Water Programme (RWP) of the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) has released a report which addresses the need for MDG-based policy making on water and sanitation to incorporate human rights standards. The publication analyses MDG-based policies and sector strategies from five countries, identifying current trends and any critical gaps. It reviews the extent to which such policies are consistent with, are conflicting or fail to reflect human rights principles. It also shows how gaps in MDG-based policy making can be usefully filled by more explicit and systematic consideration of human rights standards. The report titled, The significance of human rights in MDG-based policy making on water and sanitation: An application to Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Laos is available at http://www.cohre.org/resources and www.cohre.org/watsannews
http://reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/MUMA-7S888W/$file/OHCHR_Report_2008.pdf?openelement
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) passed several historic milestones in 2008, including a number of significant institutional developments, the adoption of new international legal instruments, a change of High Commissioner and three highly symbolic anniversaries.
Among notable developments was the launch, in April, of the Human Rights Council's new Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, in which OHCHR plays an important facilitative role. Under the UPR, the human rights record of every country will for the first time be subject to regular peer review. Also significant was the adoption by the General Assembly of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which establishes a procedure by which individuals can seek justice for violations of economic, social and cultural rights, and the entry into force of a new legal instrument to protect the rights of people with disabilities, namely the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. With the completion of the move from New York to Geneva of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), OHCHR at last assumed full responsibility for servicing all UN treaty bodies.
The year also saw a change in leadership at OHCHR, with former International Criminal Court judge Navanethem Pillay taking over from Louise Arbour as High Commissioner. An internal restructuring led to adjustments in the Office's senior management structure and the creation of several new senior-level posts. There was an emphasis on consolidating recent growth, particularly in the field where half of all OHCHR staff are now based, and reinforcing the Office's capacity to fulfill its mandated responsibilities, especially in relation to the Human Rights Council, the UPR, treaty bodies and special procedures.
Finally, in a year of anniversaries, 2008 marked 60 years since the adoption by the General Assembly of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The adoption of this Convention signified a first, concerted effort by the world community to consign to history the horrors of the Holocaust, and 15 years since the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, which led to the creation of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights and subsequently the establishment of the Office in its present form. Finally, on Human Rights Day, 10 December, OHCHR led the world in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a variety of events designed to raise awareness about human rights and the responsibility of States and others to uphold them.
These and other developments are described in detail in this review of OHCHR's work in 2008. The report documents the many activities undertaken during the year, presents an assessment of results achieved, and identifies some of the challenges encountered. It is a comprehensive report card on implementation of the Office's programme of work, set out most recently in the High Commissioner's Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for the 2008-2009 biennium. It also contains detailed information on funding sources and expenditure, including financial
http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/ColombiaAfrodescendientes.sp/ColombiaAfros2009indice.sp.htm
Washington, D.C., 15 de mayo de 2009 - La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) publica hoy sus observaciones de la visita realizada por el Relator sobre los Derechos de los Afrodescendientes y contra la Discriminación Racial, Sir Clare K. Roberts, a la República de Colombia.
El documento de la CIDH indica que la población afrodescendiente en Colombia se encuentra marcada por una historia de invisibilidad, exclusión y desventajas sociales y económicas que afectan el goce de sus derechos fundamentales. La población afrocolombiana constituye el segmento mayoritario de las clases más pobres del país, muestra los indicadores socioeconómicos más bajos, padece una tasa de mortalidad infantil que duplica la registrada a nivel nacional, y tiene menor acceso a servicios básicos como educación y salud, así como menor acceso a empleos redituables y menor participación en la vida pública.
Asimismo, el estudio destaca que regiones del país mayoritariamente habitadas por afrodescendientes se han visto particularmente afectadas por la crisis humanitaria derivada del conflicto armado interno. La Comisión observa con especial preocupación la falta de esclarecimiento judicial de la mayoría de los hechos de violencia que han afectado a las comunidades afrodescendientes y causado su desplazamiento.
“Las disparidades entre las condiciones sociales y económicas de los afrodescendientes y el resto de la población en Colombia están estrechamente vinculadas a la exclusión social padecida históricamente por este segmento de la población”, indica el documento. “A pesar de la vigencia de legislación y políticas públicas destinadas a promover el desarrollo de la población afrocolombianas”, agrega, “el goce igualitario de derechos y la superación de la discriminación estructural continúan presentándose como un gran desafío para esta población, que permanece invisibilizada”.
El informe valora positivamente las diversas iniciativas y medidas legislativas y administrativas tomadas por el Estado colombiano a fin de lograr el respeto de los derechos humanos de la población afrocolombianas, tales como el reconocimiento constitucional de los derechos de los afrodescendientes en la Constitución de 1991 y la legislación adoptada por el Estado para implementar esos derechos. En particular, destaca los avances fundamentales hacia el reconocimiento y mejoramiento de la protección de los derechos de los afrodescendientes y la protección de su identidad cultural, mediante la Ley 70 de 1993. En el informe, la Comisión observa la necesidad de que estas iniciativas cuenten con un compromiso a largo plazo del Estado y recursos financieros adicionales para asegurar su plena implementación, así como la necesidad de implementar políticas públicas complementarias y mecanismos especializados para garantizar que los afrocolombianos ejerzan plenamente sus derechos y libertades fundamentales. La Comisión reitera su compromiso de colaborar con el Estado en la búsqueda de soluciones adecuadas para los problemas detectados.
La CIDH agradece las contribuciones financieras de Irlanda y de la Comisión Europea, que hicieron posible la realización de la visita y la producción del informe.
La CIDH es un órgano principal y autónomo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA), cuyo mandato surge de la Carta de la OEA y de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos. La Comisión Interamericana tiene el mandato de promover la observancia de los derechos humanos en la región y actúa como órgano consultivo de la OEA en la materia. La CIDH está integrada por siete miembros independientes que son elegidos por la Asamblea General de la OEA a título personal, y no representan sus países de origen o residencia.
Lebanon: Candidates Should Make Pledges on Rights
Parliamentary Elections an Opportunity to Adopt Improved Policies
May 13, 2009
(Beirut) - Political parties and candidates in the June parliamentary elections should outline their plans to improve Lebanon's human rights record and promise to enforce the country's obligations under human rights law, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. So far, the parties and their candidates have generally ignored human rights issues in their platforms.
The eight-page report, "Lebanon's 2009 Parliamentary Elections: A Human Rights Agenda," focuses on five priority areas of human rights problems in Lebanon: ill-treatment and torture in detention; the "disappeared" from the civil war; discrimination against women; ill-treatment of migrant domestic workers; and discrimination against Palestinian refugees. It outlines specific and feasible recommendations and urges political parties to make carrying them out a part of their electoral commitment.
"Lebanese politicians need to move beyond their slogans of promoting ‘justice, reform and equality' and start explaining exactly how they plan to achieve these objectives," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "At a minimum, they should promise to put an end to torture and amend laws that discriminate against women and Palestinian refugees."
Since the last parliamentary elections in 2005, Lebanese authorities have taken some steps to improve human rights, but they have not followed through on many of these initiatives. For example, the government granted the International Committee of the Red Cross access to detention facilities in February 2007 and ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture in December 2008. However, officials remain unwilling to investigate and prosecute those accused of responsibility for torture and have yet to comply with the provisions of the Convention against Torture, which Lebanon ratified in 2000.
The national-unity government that emerged after the Doha agreement in May 2008 pledged in its ministerial declaration on August 4, 2008, to take steps to uncover the fate of the thousands of people who disappeared during the civil war, which ended almost two decades ago. Despite this official pledge and numerous expressions of support by Lebanese political parties, the government took no practical steps to shed light on the fate of the ‘disappeared'.
The report lists concrete recommendations that build on existing initiatives, including seeking pledges by candidates and political parties that they will:
* Call on the Ministry of Interior to publish the results of the investigations it began last August into allegations of corruption and torture in Lebanese prisons.
* Urge the current Syrian-Lebanese committee established to investigate disappearances involving Syrian security forces to make public any information it has obtained since May 2005.
* Insist that the Ministry of Labor set up an inspection unit to monitor the recently enacted standard contract for migrant domestic workers, set up to help protect them from abuse.
* Abolish legislative restrictions on the employment of Palestinians.
* Insist that the government submit its required initial report to the UN Committee against Torture, which was due in 2001.
Human Rights Watch also urged Lebanese political parties and candidates to tackle broader, long-standing human rights problems, such as the discrimination against Palestinians. While the government acknowledged the dire living conditions for Palestinians when it created the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee in October 2005, it has not changed the discriminatory policies that deny the Palestinians the right to own property and restrict the professions in which they may work.
"Lebanon's recurring bouts of instability, occupation and war have often delayed necessary and overdue reforms," said Whitson. "Lebanon's leaders should take advantage of the current stability to show that they are serious about building a state that protects human rights."
http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Chilemujer2009eng/Chilewomen2009toc.eng.htm
Washington, D.C., May 13, 2009 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) releases today its “Report on the Rights of Women in Chile: Equality in the Family, Labor and Political Spheres.” The report concludes that discrimination is one of the main barriers that women encounter in getting their rights effectively protected and guaranteed.
The IACHR recognizes advances in the rights of women in Chile, but observes that, in law and in practice, different forms of discrimination against women persist that continue to be tolerated by society. This accentuates the structural inequities in the home, in political life and on the job. The report analyzes the direct link between Chilean women’s unequal status in the family and their limited participation in the country’s political life and labor force.
One of the problems identified by the Commission is that the processes of approval of bills relative to the rights of women, especially those relative to equality in the home, are characterized by sluggishness and delays. “The democratization of the family is crucial to enabling Chilean women to participate in the labor market and the political life of the country. As President Michelle Bachelet has said, women’s equality on every front is a key to Chile’s continued and sustainable economic, social and political development”, the report concludes.
The working visit of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women to Chile took place in September 2007 and it was conducted with the financial support of the Government of Finland.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who act in a personal capacity, without representing a particular country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly.
http://cidh.org/countryrep/ChileMujer2009sp/Chilemujer09indice.sp.htm
CIDH PRESENTA INFORME SOBRE LA SITUACIÓN DE LAS MUJERES EN CHILE
Washington, D.C., 13 de mayo de 2009 - La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) presenta hoy su “Informe sobre los Derechos de las Mujeres en Chile: la Igualdad en la Familia, el Trabajo y la Política”. El informe concluye que el problema de la discriminación es una de las principales barreras que las mujeres enfrentan para que sus derechos sean efectivamente protegidos y garantizados.
La CIDH reconoce avances en los derechos de las mujeres en Chile, pero observa que, tanto en la ley como en la práctica, persisten diversas formas de discriminación que siguen siendo toleradas por la sociedad. Esto acentúa las inequidades estructurales en el ámbito familiar, político y laboral. El informe analiza el vínculo directo entre la desigualdad de las mujeres chilenas en el ámbito de la familia y su limitada participación en la esfera política y en el ámbito laboral del país.
Uno de los problemas identificados por la Comisión es la lentitud y los retrasos que caracterizan los procesos de aprobación de proyectos de ley relativos a los derechos de las mujeres, especialmente los relativos a la igualdad en el ámbito de la familia. “La democratización de la familia es vital para que las mujeres chilenas puedan tener una inserción y participación igualitaria en la vida laboral y política del país. Como lo ha reconocido la Presidenta Michelle Bachelet, la igualdad de las mujeres en todas las esferas es clave para que el desarrollo económico, social y político de Chile sea continuo y sostenible”, concluye el informe.
La visita de trabajo de la Relatoría sobre los Derechos de las Mujeres a Chile tuvo lugar en septiembre de 2007 y se realizó con el apoyo financiero del gobierno de Finlandia.
La CIDH es un órgano principal y autónomo de la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA), cuyo mandato surge de la Carta de la OEA y de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos. La Comisión Interamericana tiene el mandato de promover la observancia de los derechos humanos en la región y actúa como órgano consultivo de la OEA en la materia. La CIDH está integrada por siete miembros independientes que son elegidos por la Asamblea General de la OEA a título personal, y no representan sus países de origen o residencia.
Report at: http://hub.witness.org/sites/hub.witness.org/files/Putting_it_Right.pdf
Video at: http://hub.witness.org/en/HearUs-ViolenceAgainstWomeninZimbabwe2
Zimbabwe: NGO Documents Women Abuse
9 May 2009
________________________________
AMONG the worst victims of politically-motivated violence are women.
They have suffered largely in silence.
But last week saw the first of several initiatives to roll back the
darkness enveloping the violations.
The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), a non-governmental organisation
(NGO) providing specialist assistance in research and advocacy in the
field of human rights, democracy and governance, launched a video and
released a report documenting political and human rights violations
against women in Zimbabwe.
The documentary, Hear Us - Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political
Violence Speak Out, and accompanying report, Putting it Right:
Addressing Human Rights Violations Against Zimbabwean Women, present the
findings of RAU's study and call for action on the issue of politically
motivated violence against women.
The video narrates the stories of four women who were tortured for their
political activities or those of a family member. A
30-something-year-old woman identified as Memory recounts how she was
raped by youth militia.
"When I arrived at the base, they removed all my clothes and I was raped
by three men, one after the other."
When she went to the police to report the incident, she was told that
they would not accept her statement. The policeman told her: "We are not
dealing with political violence cases. The time will come when we will
deal with them."
It is estimated more than 2000 women were raped at militia camps between
May and July 2008, according to Zimbabwean Human Rights groups.
Since the police did not accept reports of politically-motivated
violence in Zimbabwe in 2008 and that women reporting rape often
encountered suspicion and hostility or did not make a report due to the
stigma attached to rape victims in Zimbabwe, rights groups believe the
actual number of women affected by this violence is much greater than
that documented to date.
In the accompanying report, Putting it Right: Addressing Human Rights
Violations Against Zimbabwean Women, the overriding assertion is that in
all situations of conflict, merely by virtue of their gender, women are
both primary and secondary victims of violence.
When the political parties in Zimbabwe signed a historic agreement on
the September 15, 2008 undertaking to put an end to the political and
economic crisis and to end politically motivated violence in Zimbabwe,
women welcomed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) as it acknowledges
the equality between men and women and recognizes women's role in
nation-building and the abuses they suffered in the process, and
continue to suffer.
Any transitional process will not be effective unless it addresses the
issues raised by those affected and acknowledges the evidence that in
Zimbabwe attempts at national healing and reconciliation without justice
provide but a short-term remedy to conflict.
The overall argument from both the film and the accompanying report
urges the government to adhere to the GPA by returning to the rule of
law; bringing all the perpetrators of violence to book; ensuring that
there is no discrimination based on gender; ensuring community
integration and national healing ; and involving women at every stage of
the transitional process on issues that relate to them as women.
RAU a member of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe is calling for the end
to political violence, especially against women.
The video gives women a voice in the hope that more women will speak out
about the abuses they endured, and demand that these abuses are
addressed in a respectful manner, but only after the affected have been
consulted.
The Minister of State in the Organ of National Healing, Reconciliation
and Integration, Sekai Holland - herself a victim of state-sponsored
violence acknowledged state-sponsored violence on citizens who dared to
hold opposing views to the political elite at each successive phase in
the history of the country, even before the colonial period.
Copyright (c) 2009 Zimbabwe Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed
by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://www.flip.org.co/documentos/362-manual_acceso.pdf
El 4 de mayo de 2009 - Con ocasión del Día Mundial de la
Libertad de Prensa, la FLIP presenta el Manual de Acceso a la Información.
Esta publicación contiene herramientas prácticas y útiles para que el
periodista y el ciudadano puedan buscar y recibir información.
La información es la materia prima de la democracia. Buscamos información o
accedemos a ella para saber cuáles son nuestros derechos y qué obligaciones
tenemos. Este conocimiento es el fundamento de las decisiones que tomamos
como ciudadanos. Exigimos información para ejercer un legítimo control
político: la publicidad es una garantía de transparencia.
El derecho de acceder a información pública desborda el simple deber del
Estado de responder nuestras peticiones. Este derecho también impone una
obligación triple al Estado: producir la información, archivarla y
difundirla. En países como Colombia, donde se busca garantizar los derechos
económicos, sociales y culturales, la información pública también permite
saber hasta qué punto el Estado está progresando a través de sus políticas
públicas. Temas como la cobertura en educación o el acceso a los servicios
de salud sólo pueden evaluarse si se dispone de información fidedigna
durante periodos determinados.
Por un lado, el presente manual describe de manera general el marco legal y
judicial del derecho de acceso a la información, consagrado en el artículo
74 de la Constitución Política. Por el otro, contiene una guía de casos
prácticos y herramientas para solicitar información pública.
Esta publicación contó con el apoyo de la Embajada Británica en Colombia,
Reporteros Sin Fronteras Suecia y el National Endowment for Democracy.
Para mayor información, comunicarse con Carlos Cortés, director, FLIP,
Calle 40, No. 22 - 40 Oficina 302, Bogotá, Colombia S.A, teléf: +571 400 96
77, +571 400 96 78, fax: +571 481 63 48, correo electrónico:
info@flip.org.co, sitio internet: http://www.flip.org.co
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/05/03/not-yet-workers-paradise
http://asiapacific.ifj.org/assets/docs/079/011/9b8c64f-79d470b.pdf
May 2009
IFJ annual report documents alarming trends in journalists' safety, press
freedom
Press Freedom Under Fire in South Asia, 2008-09
IFJ and SAMSN Release Seventh Annual Report
(IFJ/IFEX) - May 1, 2009 - The seventh annual report on press freedom in
South Asia, produced by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
for the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), documents alarming
trends in working conditions for journalists, typified by greatly increased
risks to physical safety, rising job insecurity and a commercial
environment that tends to undermine many ethical norms.
Under Fire: Press Freedom in South Asia 2008-2009 will be officially
launched by the IFJ and SAMSN at UNESCO's Media and Dialogue regional
conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, on World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
The report notes that after years of buoyant growth, only restrained in
some cases by politics, such as the two-year state of "emergency" in
Bangladesh, media industries in the region are now confronting the fallout
of the global economic downturn.
Job losses in journalism are undermining professional morale in a region
where physical threats are already taking a serious toll.
Under Fire catalogues a number of cases of journalists being killed in the
region. Statistically, the figures are in keeping with long-period averages
in most countries. But a relative deterioration is evident in:
- a spike in violent incidents reported from India, which has been in
relative terms a more secure environment for journalism;
- the impunity with which journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka, Nepal
and Pakistan; and
- the continuing failure of State authorities in any of these countries to
bring to justice the murderers of journalists.
At the same time, there is a tendency for State authorities in all
countries to use legal provisions dealing with exceptional situations, such
as "terrorism" and "sedition", to prosecute or intimidate journalists.
The regulatory environment in most countries of South Asia remains
ill-defined, especially for the rapidly growing electronic media. In
several countries, opposing political parties and civil society actors
ensure that there are few accepted standards in the observance of the free
speech right.
India, despite its long and well-established journalistic traditions,
continues to be convulsed by debates on ethics. Concerns about the coverage
of middle-class crime and terrorism have led to greater public
interrogation of the media.
In Pakistan, journalists have utilised their new freedoms to deeply
question the quality of the democratic transition that was inaugurated in
the country in 2008. Several dissonances have arisen in the process,
heightened by the global power-game being played out in Pakistan and its
immediate neighbourhood. The consequence is growing hostility toward free
and fair reporting.
Journalists in Sri Lanka have suffered the worst adversities by all
standards, considerably more serious than even the travails that
counterparts in Pakistan have faced. The daylight murder of one of the
country's best-known editors, the abduction-style arrest of another and the
continuing prosecution of still another on charges of terrorism represent a
new low for a country that is perhaps approaching the climactic stages of a
quarter century-long civil war.
A new spirit of contention has gripped Nepal, after the seeming placidity
of the first few months of the country's transition to democracy. Since
nation-wide elections to the Constituent Assembly early in 2008 and the
swearing in of a new elected government under the leadership of the
Maoists, conditions for journalism have deteriorated. This has represented
a very poor reward for the media community, which spearheaded the movement
against monarchical absolutism and contributed in a significant way to the
restoration of democracy in 2006.
As Afghanistan heads toward national elections later in 2009, the situation
for journalism is seriously muddled. The media has become an arena where
armed groups contest fiercely for political space. As elections approach,
this is a potentially explosive issue for a public that believes that the
media should be a source of information, rather than a tool of propaganda.
All other countries in the region are, in their own ways, undergoing the
pangs of transition. Bangladesh went in for nation-wide elections during
the year and a democratic government is now in authority, purportedly
committed to media rights and the public right to information. But the
first few months of the transition have been rocky and there is a serious
risk that with attention diverted toward curbing sources of turbulence, the
legislative effort on matters of essential importance to journalism could
be banished to obscurity.
Meanwhile, Bhutan continues its transition from absolute monarchy. Voices
are raised against the powers that have been assumed by newly created
regulatory institutions. And the problems relating to ethnic groups that
have been expelled from the country continue to fester. However, with
Bhutan's relatively peaceable political atmosphere, there is optimism that
these issues will be sorted out without serious disharmony.
The overall prognosis of Under Fire is gloomy. An urgent requirement is for
journalists' unions and associations in the region to unite on the basis of
agreed principles, to establish the foundations for a shared discourse on
press freedom, which could be the precursor for a larger project to bring
peace to a region that is torn by deep internal turmoil.
To access the full report, see:
http://asiapacific.ifj.org/assets/docs/079/011/9b8c64f-79d470b.pdf
To access the report annex, Incidents of Press Freedom Violations by
Country, May 2008-April 2009, see:
http://asiapacific.ifj.org/assets/docs/236/151/a0107ec-516e497.pdf
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries.
For further information, contact IFJ Asia-Pacific, tel: +612 9333 0919,
e-mail: ifj@ifj-asia.org, or the IFJ, International Press Centre, Residence
Palace, Block C, 155 Rue de la Loi, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium, tel: +322 235
2200 / 2207, fax: +322 235 2219, e-mail: ernest.sagaga@ifj.org, Internet:
http://www.ifj.org/