(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: French-speaking countries tolerate daily violations of press freedom Promises to respect human rights made at the last summit of the world’s French-speaking countries in Canada three years ago have not been kept. Press freedom in particular has declined and 20 of the 55 countries attending this […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
French-speaking countries tolerate daily violations of press freedom
Promises to respect human rights made at the last summit of the world’s French-speaking countries in Canada three years ago have not been kept. Press freedom in particular has declined and 20 of the 55 countries attending this week’s Beirut summit are still violating press freedom with impunity.
Reporters Without Borders calls for suspension of Equatorial Guinea, Laos, Tunisia and Vietnam.
Press freedom is still under siege in 20 of the 55 countries attending this week’s ninth Summit of French-Speaking States – Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Comoro Islands, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Laos, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Togo, Tunisia and Vietnam.
The situation has worsened in these countries since the last summit, held in Moncton (Canada) in September 1999. Since then, three journalists have been killed, 264 have been arrested and 183 have been physically attacked. In addition, 223 media outlets have been censored, banned or shut down by the authorities. As of 1 October 2002, 14 journalists were imprisoned in eight of the countries.
This is why Reporters Without Borders is calling for sanctions against the countries that are most responsible for press freedom violations. In line with the November 2000 Bamako Declaration, which provides for sanctions “in the event of the breakdown of democracy or large-scale violations of democracy”, Reporters Without Borders calls for the suspension from membership of the four countries that have most harshly cracked down on press freedom – Equatorial Guinea, Laos, Tunisia and Vietnam.
If the Beirut summit takes no action, it will signal that the Bamako Declaration is little more than fine words to keep the international community happy. The French-speaking world will then have lost all credibility where human rights and press freedom are concerned. The citizens of these countries will also know they no longer have anything to hope for from an organisation that is passive and tolerant of heads of state whose daily actions violate press freedom and human rights in general.
