9 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Police in China have recommended that prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo be formally charged with subversion. He has been held in jail for over a year without charges and previously served 20 months for his part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The author has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government for many years and was eventually arrested in December 2008 after creating the Charter 08 petition, a manifesto urging political reform. Read more here
8 Dec 2009 | Digital Freedom, Index Index, minipost, News and features
Claims of internet censorship have spread amongst the Russian blogosphere after the wireless internet service provider, Yota, admitted blocking access to certain websites. Denis Sverdlov, chief executive of WiMax operator Skartel, which runs the Yota brand, acknowledged that Yota blocks access to sites that are classified as extremist by the Justice Ministry. “This strongly smells of political censorship,” said Denis Bilunov, a senior member of Kasparov’s Other Russia movement. He said the most likely explanation was Russian Technologies’ involvement in the company. Read more here
8 Dec 2009 | Uncategorized
This is a guest post by Jenni Hulse
Last week, prominent Ugandan church leader Canon Gideon Byamugisha joined international condemnation of the country’s proposed anti-homosexuality bill, saying it will be nothing short of state-sponsored “genocide”. He added that the bill would “institutionalise violence and death towards a minority group”.
Byamugisha’s remarks are the latest in a global backlash against the bill. On Thursday a Ugandan news website reported that Sweden will cut aid to Uganda if the bill is passed. Canada has also condemned the bill and Gordon Brown is reported to have discussed the matter directly with the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni at the recent commonwealth summit.
The bill, proposed on 14 October by David Bahati, MP for Ndorwa County, seeks to introduce the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for committing any “homosexual act”. Provisions in the bill could also lead to the imprisonment of anyone who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Apart from the obvious human rights implications — criminalizing the personal and social behaviour of the LGBT community in Uganda, estimated to number 500,000 — legal experts have said it poses a serious threat to the right to free speech, association and assembly.
A new, wide-ranging provision would forbid the “promotion of homosexuality”, including publishing information or providing funds or premises for activities, or other resources. Conviction could result in up to seven years in prison.
“Promotion” is expected to extend to any form of public discussion about homosexuality, and activists have raised concerns that this will hinder the country’s fight against HIV/Aids among the gay community. Any media deemed to be publicizing homosexuality will automatically be censored and publishers and broadcasters will face prosecution. Free communication will be compromised with one clause criminalising the use of “electronic devices which include internet, films, mobile phones for purposes of homosexuality or promoting homosexuality”.
Bahati has defended the bill, insisting publicly that homosexuality is not a human right and that the bill only seeks to defend the “traditional heterosexual family.” However, if introduced, it will put the freedom of expression of all Ugandans at risk. By further stigmatising an already marginalised group and penalising those who support the rights of the gay community, the bill will fuel a witch-hunt mindset that will divide and weaken civil society.
8 Dec 2009 | Uncategorized
This is a guest post by Ángel García Català
On 14 December, the first national Brazilian congress on communication and media will be held in the country’s capital. The four day conference in Brasilia will discuss, amongst other things, the need for a new media law. The Workers’ Party (PT) is trying to amend the current legislation, which they consider to be “anachronistic and authoritarian” primarily because they believe it favours the interest of business over the interests of the wider population. Brazilian president President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has shown that he favours the reform, stating that “the more television there is, the more journalism and cultural programmes that appear, the more political debates ensue and the stronger the democratisation of communication will become”.
Brazil is following a process that has already been initiated by other countries in the region. El Salvador has also started discussions on media law whilst the parliament of Ecuador will begin the approval process of its own law on the 10 December. Other countries like Uruguay and Argentina have already adopted reforms.
Opinions on these laws and their suitability are polarised. Take the various reactions to the law adopted by the Argentinian Senate, for example. Some see this type of reform as a clear attack on freedom of expression, while others applaud it as a mechanism for strengthening democracy.
The new law in Argentina, which replaces the broadcasting law passed in 1980 during the military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla, provides that the same company cannot own more than 10 audiovisual licences. Those who are currently exceeding that number will be forced to sell the rest. One of the businesses most affected by this measure is the Clarín group, which has 264 licences and whose profits last year stood at around US $500 million.
The Spanish companies Telefonica and Grupo Prisa (which publishes El País) are also greatly affected. No wonder then, that these companies are among the biggest opponents to reform. Ricardo Roa, assistant general editor of the newspaper Clarín believes that “the law promotes a press weaker and docile toward political power”. Associations like the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) have also rejected the new law outright, saying that such reforms are an “enslavement to freedom of expression while promoting the creation and acquisition of media by the state and groups close to power.”
In contrast, the Argentinian reforms have the full support of Frank La Rue, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, who considers it as one of the most advanced reforms in the world, as well as seeing it as “an example to others countries [to] ensure access for all social sectors to the media”. Reporters Sans Frontieres has also endorsed the reform, calling it a “brave and necessary law, despite pressure from some pretty selfish press groups”.
