28 August 2008

FREE EXPRESSION CONSTRAINED, UN COMMITTEE FINDS


The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has criticised Britain's 2006 Terrorism Act and other laws and practices as unduly restricting freedom of expression, says ARTICLE 19 in an August report. In its sixth periodic report on the United Kingdom, released in July, the committee said the Terrorism Act's definition of the "encouragement of terrorism" offence was "broad and vague," including no requirement of intent for the offence to be committed.

The committee said the 1989 Official Secrets Act has been used to prohibit former government employees and the media from publicly discussing issues of public interest, even when there is no risk to national security. And Britain's restrictive libel laws and the rise of so-called libel tourism
- "shopping" for plaintiff-friendly laws and courts - have discouraged critical reporting, harming scholars as well as journalists.
On the other hand, the UNHRC welcomed the government's abolition this year of the common-law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales, which ARTICLE 19 says protected only the Anglican faith (Church of England).

Days after the committee reported, the British government further restricted former diplomats' freedom of speech. ARTICLE 19 said the new rules, which a parliamentary committee called "excessively wide-ranging and oppressive," followed embarrassing revelations in books by two former diplomats.

At the same time the government proposed to intercept and store "a billion incidents of data exchange a day" of online communications, according to a computing website. PC Pro said the information will be available not only to police to crack down on serious crime, but also to municipal councils, health authorities and even the post office.

Visit these links:
- ARTICLE 19: http://tinyurl.com/5l7owl
- Libel tourism: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/93931/
- Diplomatic speech: http://tinyurl.com/5fohju
- PC Pro: http://tinyurl.com/63tunb
(27 August 2008)



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Also from the Communiqué, 28 August 2008

INTERNATIONAL: UNIVERSITY CONFERENCES IN U.S. AND AFRICA DISCUSS ACADEMIC FREEDOM 28 August 2008 CHINA: OLYMPICS NO WINDOW FOR PRO-TIBET AND OTHER PROTESTS 28 August 2008 TUNISIA: FREE-EXPRESSION ADVOCATE BARRED FROM LEAVING COUNTRY 28 August 2008 TURKEY: 412 INTERNET SITES AND BLOGS PROTEST CENSORSHIP 28 August 2008 EGYPT: CRACKDOWN ON INTERNET USE WIDENS 28 August 2008 THAILAND: MOB OCCUPIES STATE TV, BOMBING KILLS REPORTER 28 August 2008 MEXICO: AUTHOR AND DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER MURDERED 28 August 2008 SIERRA LEONE: GOVERNMENTS TURN AGAINST MEDIA, NIGERIAN KILLED 28 August 2008

United Kingdom

IFJ joins protest against threat to confidentiality of sources from police 21 September 2011 Blanket ban on marches in six London boroughs violates freedom of speech, says ARTICLE 19 6 September 2011 BlackBerry cooperation with police sparks concern over targeting of social networks 15 August 2011 IFJ welcomes inquiries into media ethics after closure of scandal-ridden tabloid 11 July 2011 Panel review calls for limits on "super-injunctions" 24 May 2011 See all alerts: United Kingdom


Western Europe

FRANCE: Documentary filmmaking threatened by court ruling 7 February 2012 KAZAKHSTAN / GERMANY: Make rights key to good relations, says Human Rights Watch 6 February 2012 WESTERN EUROPE / TURKEY: TV satellite operator usurps court’s prerogative to silence Kurdish TV station 20 January 2012 FRANCE: Senate must reject Armenian Genocide law, says ARTICLE 19 20 January 2012 TURKEY / DENMARK: Kurdish Roj TV fined but remains on air 12 January 2012


 
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