Join 35 IFEX members calling for amendments to Somalia's media law before it goes to parliament in August. Please sign a letter that will automatically be sent to the Prime Minister.
On 18 July, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon personally expressed his willingness for this draft law to be further amended in order to protect and promote media freedom. This was a bold and positive commitment made by the Prime Minister during a meeting with around 20 media representatives.
Will you sign a letter to the Prime Minister and other authorities, urging him to follow through on his promise? Fill in the form above right to send an automatic email now!
Somali media are concerned because the draft law regulates all media outlets – electronic and print – which runs counter to international standards on media freedom. It also gives broad powers to a proposed National Media Council, which would work under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and would not therefore be independent, particularly as the process of appointing members is a government-led and controlled activity, with the majority of its members to be appointed from the Ministry of Information and the parliament.
Furthermore, several provisions of this draft law are vague and lack clarity. The draft law leaves numerous key terms undefined such as “security”, “good culture” “public interest” and “national stability”, and it requires journalists to reveal their confidential sources and media houses to name unnamed reporters if they are called to do so in a court of law.
The draft law also seems to discriminate against journalists working for foreign media organisations. It makes it easy for foreign reporters and their organisations to lose their accreditation during investigations and judicial processes against them. The draft law further specifies ethical rules that journalists must follow in practicing their profession.
Somali journalists and their media houses have suffered tremendously and many have been killed. They do not expect the new federal government to pass a repressive media law that curtails the freedom they paid for with such a heavy price.
Please sign a letter now asking the Prime Minister not to send the law to parliament until the final version respects, protects and promotes press freedom, in line with Somalia’s national and international commitments.
