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Alert

ARTICLE 19 and MFWA protest enforcement of act establishing National Media Commission

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - The following is a joint ARTICLE 19 and Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) press release:

Accra/Johannesburg

In a joint protest, the Media Foundation for West Africa and ARTICLE 19 reiterated their concerns over the Enforcement of the Act establishing the National Media Commission of The Gambia (NMC Act 2002 No. 7 of 2002).

The letter calls on media and human rights organisations to support the Gambia Press Union in their boycott of the Media Commission until the present Act is repealed. Radical revisions need to be made in order for the legislation to meet international press freedom standards and to ensure media freedom in The Gambia.

In June this year, the government of President Yahya Jammeh went ahead to inaugurate the National Media Commission without representatives of the Gambia Press Union and the Gambia Bar Association. Recently, the Media Commission has requested that journalists start registering in order to be able to carry out their profession.

The Gambia Press Union is currently challenging the constitutionality of the Act before the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

"The Act in its present form is incompatible with international standards; it is one the most draconian examples of media legislation on the Continent. Its many problems include the lack of independence of the Media Commission, the quasi-judicial powers conferred to it and the mandatory licensing conditions it imposes on individual journalists," say MFWA and ARTICLE 19.

For information on previous statements on The Gambia, visit our web sites http://www.article19.org and http://www.mediafoundationwa.org