6 Feb 2014 | Palestine, Politics and Society
Israeli authorities have told a Palestinian TV station to stop broadcasting amid claims it was disrupting Israeli television broadcasting.
Sheraa TV, a local news station in the city of Tulkarem, had received several notices from the Israeli authorities to immediately stop broadcasting otherwise they would take action and force its closure.
The Israelis originally claimed that Sheraa TV’s broadcasting was disrupting communications, in particular those at Israel’s major international airport. However, after the TV station consulted with technicians from the Palestinian ministry of communications, who confirmed their devices were not causing any interference, the Israeli authorities then said the interference was affecting TV networks instead.
Mohamed Zeidan, Sheraa TV director general, told the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA): “We have taken the decision to stop broadcasting two days ago until we find a solution to this issue, because it is no stranger to the occupation authorities to raid media outlets and confiscate broadcasting equipment, which cost us a fortune.”
According to a report by MADA between 2008 and 2012 Israeli authorities targeted media outlets on a number of occasions.
The MADA has since called upon all countries and human rights organisations to pressure Israel into respecting freedom of expression and to commit to the international laws and agreements signed with the Palestinian National Authority.
6 Feb 2014 | Belarus, Campaigns, Index Reports
In a new policy paper, launched today in Minsk, Index on Censorship calls for the much-needed reforms of the media field in Belarus.
Belarus continues to have one of the most restrictive and hostile media environments in Europe. Recent years have brought no genuine improvements to the media situation. In a country that has not held a free and fair election since 1994 the authorities keep tight control over the media as a means of preserving their power.
The new report Belarus: Time for media reform says the country’s media market is strictly controlled by the Belarusian government. That control rigs the media market to benefit state-owned providers and impedes the development of independent print and television outlets through legislative and administrative restrictions. The state-owned media enjoys significant budget subsidies, favourable advertising and distribution contracts with government agencies. In comparison, independent publications face economic discrimination and distribution restrictions.
The police use violence and detain journalists, especially those who cover protests.
8 February 2014 will mark the 5th anniversary of the current media law in Belarus. Restrictive media legislation and its oppressive implementation have made the media landscape unfavourable for freedom of expression.
Andrei Bastunets, a vice chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, and a co-author of the report, said:
“The media law in Belarus fails to foster the development of pluralistic and independent news media through a complicated procedure of compulsory registration of new media outlets and possibilities for the state to close down existing media even for minor infringements. The authorities clearly look into expanding the restrictive regulation to online news media.”
Despite ongoing pressure by international community and Belarusian civil society, the authorities of the country have been quite reluctant to discuss or implement recommendations on media legislation or changes in practices of their implementation to bring them in line with international standards.
Andrei Aliaksandrau, Index Belarus Programme Officer, said:
“We urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately remove all contraventions of human rights and media freedom. The much-needed reforms of the media field should be launched in order to end harassment and persecution of journalists, and eliminate excessive state interference in media freedom. The outline of these reforms should result from a dialogue with professional community and civil society of the country.”
Read the full text of the policy paper “Belarus: Time for media reform” here.
Поўны тэкст аналітычнага дакладу “За рэформы медыя ў Беларусі” можна пабачыць тут.
6 Feb 2014 | Campaigns, Turkey, Turkey Statements
The decision by Turkey’s parliament to approve a new internet law that tightens restrictions is a major blow to freedom of expression in Turkey. The European Union must make it clear that Turkey is jeopardising its membership talks with the Union if this law is promulgated.
Amendments to law 5651 allow the Turkish telecommunication authority to block sites without seeking a court order and forces internet service providers to store user data and browsing activity for two years. This reprehensible law calls into question Turkey’s commitment to democracy and a free and open society.
6 Feb 2014 | News and features, Religion and Culture, Russia
Human Rights Watch released a video documenting the treatment of LGBT Russians on 3 February ahead of the opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Drawing a screen around the realities of life for Russian gays and lesbians, Russian president Vladimir Putin and the organizers of the Sochi Winter Olympic games are presenting a decidedly friendly face to international visitors.
Even though Sochi’s mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov, would prefer to believe “there are no gays” in his city, the mayor of the Olympic village, Elena Isinbayeva, offered to make LGBT athletes to feel welcome — despite her earlier homophobic comments. The girl band Tatu, most popular during the early 2000s when they exploited homoeroticism in their live appearances and videos, will perform at the opening ceremonies.
The real Russia has turned ugly and brutish toward its LGBT citizens.
The recent spate of homophobic violence has its roots in a controversial law that bars the promotion of non-traditional relationships as being equal to traditional relationships. While the law’s backers say they are protecting children, the effect has been to silence the push for gay rights by threatening fines for “homosexual propaganda.”
While official Russia will be demonstrating what it sees as tolerance in Sochi, a court in the city of Nizhniy Tagil will issue a ruling on the case of Elena Klimova – a young journalist who created a group on Vkontakte – Russia’s answer to Facebook. Klimova’s group, Children 404, contains letters from young LGBT people, who have been subject to physical and psychological attacks. Their letters to each other, according to Klimova, have been helping them cope with the pressure and continuing struggle for their rights. Klimova’s efforts to ease the isolation of LGBT children has drawn the ire of United Russia’s Vitaly Milonov, a proponent of the gay propaganda law, who has sued Madonna and been exposed as a bigot by Stephen Fry.
Klimova has also been active in raising concerns about the plight of a teen girl in the Bryansk region who has been put under administrative control by a local juvenile commission. Her crime? The girl openly identified “herself as a person with non-traditional sexual orientation and promote[d] information which misinforms minors about social equality of traditional and non-traditional relationship”. She will be monitored as if she were a criminal.
According to the latest Levada-Centre research, some 43% of Russian citizens consider homosexuality a bad habit, 38% reckon LGBT people should be “cured”, 47% say LGBT and heterosexuals are not socially equal and 73% approve the state’s effort to prevent public professions of an LGBT orientation.
The Russian Orthodox Church has done a lot to maintain these numbers.
Patriarch Kirill has repeatedly condemned equal marriage, saying in late January that marriage is “between a man and a woman, based on love, aimed at having children”. Kirill asked law makers to reflect his belief in drafting laws. Moscow Patriarchate’s spokesman Vladimir Legoida called equal marriage and homosexuality a sin in an interview to RIA-Novosti – the former Russian state news agency. Not to be outdone, Ivan Okhlobystin, an actor and former priest, said “gays should be burnt in ovens”.
In the meantime, on 3 February, the regional court of Kamchatka sentenced three people to 9-12 years in prison for the murder of a gay acquaintance.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993. In 1999 it finally was excluded from Russian official list of mental illnesses. The change in people’s mind is still yet to come.
This article was originally published on 6 February 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
