14 December 2005
IFEX MEMBERS SPOTLIGHT CENSORSHIP IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, ERITREA
On International Human Rights Day on 10 December 2005, IFEX members in Africa used the occasion to focus attention on free expression abuses in Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In the DRC, Journaliste en danger (JED) said press freedom was in a "catastrophic" state of affairs. In a report co-authored by JED and OMAC (Organisation des médias d'Afrique centrale), the group said there were a record number of attacks against journalists and media outlets in 2005.
Compared to last year, this indicates a worrying regression for press freedom, says JED. In 2004, JED recorded 66 cases of attacks. This year, it documented 108 cases, including one murder.
The release of JED's report has stirred discontent in the DRC.
On 10 December, JED President Donat M'baya Tshimanga, Secretary-General Tshivis Tshivuadi, and staff members Charles Mushizi and Esther Banakayi all received an identical, anonymous text message on their mobile phones.
The message said: "You are going to disappear one by one if you do not publicly announce that you are stopping your activities. You have 10 days."
The message also threatened their families, according to JED. Efforts to trace the owner of the phone were to no avail, the organization added.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued an alert calling attention to the death threats and urging the government of President Joseph Kabila to take "urgent steps to ensure the security of all journalists and press freedom activists."
In Eritrea, the Network of African Free Expression Organisations, which includes eight IFEX members, joined 22 other groups around the world, including Amnesty International, in urging the African Union to take action on human rights violations in the country.
In a joint letter sent to the AU, the groups said the Eritrean government's "consistent and gross violation of human rights" has silenced the country's civil society to the point where it has almost completely disappeared.
The statement described a litany of abuses committed by Eritrean authorities, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, draconian legislation aimed at severely restricting the activities of non-governmental organisations, and restrictions on the freedom of assembly.
It also said that although the Eritrean constitution allows for freedom of expression, no independent media have been allowed to operate in the country since the government banned the free press and jailed independent journalists in September 2001. At least 10 journalists continue to be held in secret prisons with no formal charges laid against them.
JED's report, available only in French, can be viewed here:
http://www.jed-afrique.org/full_view.php?id_alerte=440
Read the joint letter on Eritrea:
http://tinyurl.com/cv86k
Visit these links on DRC:
- IFEX alerts on DRC: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/35/
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/DRC13dec05na.html
Eritrea:
- IFEX alerts on Eritrea: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/38/
- CPJ List of Jailed Eritrean Journalists: http://tinyurl.com/a2drp
Human Rights Day
- Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/09/global12200.htm
- Human Rights Day: http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2005/
- Statement by UN Human Rights Experts: http://tinyurl.com/7o68x
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