(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 4 July 2006 WAN letter to President Nursultan Nazarbayev: His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Office of the President 11 Mira Street 473000 Astana Kazakhstan Via facsimile: +7 3172 326-182 4 July 2006 Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the World Association of […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 4 July 2006 WAN letter to President Nursultan Nazarbayev:
His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Office of the President
11 Mira Street
473000 Astana
Kazakhstan
Via facsimile: +7 3172 326-182
4 July 2006
Your Excellency,
We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to call on you to veto proposed legislation that represents a significant threat to press freedom.
According to reports, on 21 June the lower chamber adopted controversial legislation that would impose a wide range of oppressive restrictions on the media. The proposed amendments were passed by the upper house on 29 June and are dependent on your signature to come into effect.
The proposed changes include:
– Barring editors of periodicals that have been closed by court order from working in the same capacity for other publications.
– Doubling the number of grounds on which authorities may deny a media outlet registration.
– Unduly restrictive registration procedures for new media outlets and re-registration procedures for existing media companies.
– An unclear fee structure for registration and re-registration, providing authorities with further opportunities to censor critical media.
– Prohibiting the re-use of the name of any outlet that has been sanctioned by a court.
– Consolidating the use of punitive fines for simple administrative offences.
The current media laws are already excessively restrictive, granting the authorities the right to conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections, and offering them broad grounds on which to fine, suspend or close media outlets.
We respectfully remind you that the proposed amendments constitute a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which your country ratified in January of this year.
In April 2004, you vetoed similar legislation and we respectfully call on you again to reject the proposed legislation. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.
We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers
George Brock
President
World Editors Forum
WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.
