15 Jul 13 | Burma, Digital Freedom Reports
Real improvements have been made that strengthen digital freedom of expression in Burma from ending the blocking of Skype calls, to restrictions on internet cafe use being lifted and a reduction in SIM costs which will open up access to the internet and mobile telecoms. However, the legal framework remains largely unchanged during the transition to civilian government, in particular the draconian Electronic Transactions Act which contains many restrictive provisions on internet use. Built into the network infrastructure there are physical restraints on the internet in Burma with only one internet gateway for personal users allowing the possibility of deep packet inspection and web filtering. Upload speeds in Burma remain slow and the country’s mobile telephone and internet usage is one of the world’s lowest, which affects the dissemination of information. It is also alleged that activists’ email accounts have been hacked by the state. While in practice the internet and internet activists are considerably freer than a year ago, in theory they are still liable to lifetime prison sentences for the political use of email accounts. Without legal reform and technical reform, digital freedom of expression will remain chilled and mobile and internet use will continue to be highly limited.
(more…)
15 Jul 13 | Burma
Burma has made significant advances during the transition period, with progress across all the categories of this report: politics & society, media freedom, artistic freedom and digital freedom. The situation in the country has significantly improved since the beginning of the transition.
Underpinning the increased freedom of expression are the significant political changes that have seen the release from house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi and the election of NLD parliamentarians during the 2012 by-elections. The release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the regime’s most high-profile critic and political opponent, and other political prisoners was seen as a public signal to the Burmese people and civil society that the transition to civilian government was a possibility and that the government would tolerate dissent to greater latitude than in the past. Beyond this, a number of concrete advances have been made for freedom of expression including the abolition of the censorship boards, the end to the filtering of social networks and VOIP telecommunications, the return of daily newspapers and the greater latitude given to political expression, press comment and artistic expression by government officials.
(more…)
08 Jul 13 | Comment, Europe and Central Asia, In the News
Russia keeps adopting repressive laws that further restrict freedom of expression and other fundamental rights of its citizens, Andrei Aliaksandrau writes
President Vladimir Putin worked hard last Saturday, sacrificing his week-end to state affairs. He signed two laws, previously passed by the national parliament. The first one bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships”; it provides for heavy fines for “promotion of denial of traditional family values among minors.” The second law amends the Russian Criminal Code providing for up to one year in prison for “insult to religious feelings of believers.”
Adoption of both laws marks not only further deterioration of the freedom of expression situation in Russia, but also signals the country’s authorities ignore appeals from international community, human rights standards and their own international commitments.
Related
• Guest Post: International solidarity with Russian civil society is crucial
Last week Index together with 23 more human rights groups called the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to condemn the “homosexual propaganda” bans. We reminded about the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee that found prohibition of “homosexual propaganda” in Ryazan Region of Russia violating Article 19(2) and Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The principles of that decision were later affirmed in the opinion of the Venice Commission, which considered that bans on “homosexual propaganda” are “incompatible with the ECHR and international human rights standards.”
On 27 June PACE called on Russia to reject the law. But only two days later President Putin inked it to show no one is allowed to interfere with his manner of ruling his “sovereign democracy.”
Another blow against the LGBT-community followed last Wednesday, when Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples or even by citizens of countries where same-sex marriage is allowed.
One more legal act that received Putin’s signature on 3 July is the “anti-pirate” law aimed against web sites that illegally distribute copyrighted video content. It will come into force on 1 August 2013, despite criticism from key industry players. Leading web companies are concerned with provisions of the law that suggest corporate censorship.
“The law provides for a possibility of blocking of internet platforms by ISPs that we have always opposed to as it inevitably threatens resources of legal content distribution,” Svetlana Anurova, a representative of Google in Russia, told Digit.ru.
Russia keeps building repressive legislative network that restricts freedom of expression, as well as other fundamental rights. Previous legal initiatives brought to life included the notorious “foreign agent” law, aimed against NGOs that receive foreign funding, re-criminalisation of defamation, and creation of a blacklist of sites with “harmful” information under a pretext of child protection.
“Law-making the State Duma has been down to over the last year makes me question common sense of Russian MPs. It looks like they do believe they can regulate everything by laws, from street rallies to sexual relationships of citizens. Passing of such laws is an attempt to shift the focus of public attention from internal problems of Russia, people’s disaffection and questionable legitimacy of MPs themselves to search for enemies in ‘foreign agents’, LGBT community or ‘insulters’ of religious feelings,” Dmitry Makarov, a co-chair of the International Youth Human Rights Movement, told Index.
The scale and pace of passing repressive laws won the Russian State Duma a nickname of “a Crazy Printer.” And it does not seem to run out of paper and new ideas about what to restrict.
05 Jul 13 | Middle East and North Africa
“Art is a force of creation, opposing the current destruction of the country” says Terek Tuma, a Syrian artist featured in #withoutwords. The new London exhibition displays fine arts and visual installations from Syrian artists influenced by the conflict engulfing their country, and the Syrian people’s struggle for freedom. Melody Patry writes
(more…)
