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NEPAD IGNORES PRESS FREEDOM CONCERNS, SAY IFEX MEMBERS

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an African
initiative aimed at tackling poverty on the continent through better
governance, has been criticised by international organisations for ignoring
press freedom.
15 February 2005 - International Freedom of Expression eXchange

Five organisations, including the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA), the International Press Institute (IPI), the Inter American Press
Association (IAPA) and the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC), have
expressed concerns that NEPAD's lack of safeguards for press freedom may
encourage some governments to continue repressing the media.

In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the groups say NEPAD's
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which allows countries to
scrutinise each other's governance policies - has omitted a key indicator from
its criteria - the fostering of free and independent news media.

"We fear that the omission of this requirement from NEPAD's APRM
criteria has encouraged some countries to believe they have a green light to
repress their media," the groups say.

The organisations say there has been a significant increase in
detentions, prosecutions, prison sentences and other punitive acts against
editors and journalists in Africa in recent years. Most of these violations
are due to "insult laws" that criminalise criticism of government
officials.

In The Gambia, the government recently approved laws that impose
criminal penalties for press offenses and threaten to inhibit media
development. In Ethiopia, authorities are planning to push through a proposed
press law that has sparked protests by local and international press
freedom groups. A new law passed in Somalia in 2004 forces media outlets to
register with the government and criminalises defamation of public
officials.

Read the letter to Kofi Annan: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/64243/

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