International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka
Statement of the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka
The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka, on its visit between October 25 and 29,
found a deterioration in the press freedom situation since its last visit in June 2007, marked by a continuation in murders, attacks, abductions, intimidation and harassment of the media. In the recent World Press Freedom Index published by RSF, Sri Lanka has fallen to the lowest press freedom rating of any democratic country worldwide.
The International Mission is alarmed at the use of an anti-terrorism law for the first time in the democratic world, to punish journalists purely for what they have written. J.S. Tissainayagam, B. Jasiharan and V. Vallarmathy have been detained since March 2008 and later charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The Mission is worried about the dangerous precedent this sets for all media nationally and internationally.
In recent months journalists and media institutions seeking to report independently on the ongoing conflict have been attacked and intimidated in a seeming effort to limit public knowledge about the conduct of the war and to reveal their sources. This is a violation of the public right to know and the accepted norm that media sources should be protected.
Media in the North and East of the country have continued to bear the brunt of the worst forms of insecurity. Media access to war-affected areas is heavily restricted with journalists forced to reproduce information disseminated by the conflicting parties. Media are constantly threatened by all parties to the conflict in an effort to curtail independent and critical reporting. The International Mission condemns the murder of P. Devakumar in Jaffna in May 2008, as well as over a dozen other murders documented since 2005.
In the LTTE-controlled areas freedom of expression and freedom of movement continue to be heavily restricted preventing diverse opinions and access to plural sources of information. Media rules gazetted on October 10th by the Sri Lankan Government provide for a number of contingencies under which broadcasting licences can be cancelled, including seven different grounds related to broadcast content. Moreover, a popular broadcast channel has been put on notice that it is to submit transcripts of news broadcasts "to be carried" every week as of October 28th. The international Mission deplores any effort to impose prior restraint or direct censorship on the
media.
The International Mission is shocked at repeated instances of elected representatives and Government Ministers using violence and inflammatory language against media workers and institutions. The Mission is also concerned that state-owned media and the website of the Ministry of Defence have contributed to the vilification of independent media and journalists. Such actions can only be construed as efforts to discredit media through false accusations and clearly places them in danger.
The International Mission applauds the solidarity and resolve shown by the five organisations of journalists in Sri Lanka – the Free Media Movement, Sri Lankan Working Journalists' Association, Federation of Media Employees' Trade Unions, Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance and Sri Lankan Muslim Media Forum – in a tough and challenging situation.
Moreover, the International Mission supports the solidarity displayed by media owners and editors in seeking to bring the perpetrators of recent attacks on journalists to justice.
The International Mission would welcome the imminent invitation of the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression by the Sri Lankan government in line with its commitments to the Human Rights Council in 2006.
Background
In October 2006 and June 2007 delegations from the International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Sri Lanka, which is comprised of twelve international press freedom and media development organisations, undertook fact-finding and advocacy missions to Sri Lanka. In order to follow-up on these missions, the International Mission returned to Sri Lanka in October 2008. The delegation for this visit is comprised of the International Federation of Journalists (www.ifj.org), International Media Support (www.i-m-s.dk), International News Safety Institute (www.newssafety.org), International Press Institute (www.freemedia.at), and Reporters Without Borders (www.rsf.org).
Members of the International Mission met with the President of Sri Lanka, Ministerial Committee on Journalists Grievances, political parties, media owners and editors, journalists and media workers, human rights and legal experts, and the international community.
1 Comments
One can never clean a people with a shower of untruth. The agitation in Tamil Nadu will make the Sinhalese to be defiant initially, but afterwards they will come to realise that they have been fooled by political parties in the South for six decades.
"When General Colin Powell, Jamaican-born former Chief of Staff of the US Armed Forces and US Secretary of State endorsed Barack Obama last week, he gave as one of his reasons his disgust that John McCain had not responded appropriately to an ignorant heckler in a Republican crowd who had shouted that Obama was a Muslim. (As is well known Obama is a Christian who often quotes the Scripture in his speeches). Colin Powell said that Senator McCain should have responded “so what if he is?” .
The failed responsible behaviour of a politician, under such circumstances, to bring out the truth, is what Barrack Obama calls "gutter politics". He used this coinage against senator Mc Cain.
I am sure that when he becomes the president of the USA, he will reprimand and discipline the countries all over the world, for "gutter politics" and promote genuine political debate and correct political action.
When Sarth Fonseka, the army commander and a JHU cabinet minister said that Sri Lanka is for the majority Sinhalese, none from the UNP or JVP or even the president, rebuked and said " No, this country belongs to Tamils also".
When the 1972 constitution was drafted to name the island Sri Lanka (SL), and call it a Sinhala Budddhist country; none from the UNP, LSSP said "No, this country should be called a coutry where the Sinhalese and Tamils lived side by side with autonomy and separate sovereignty for long and was secular".
This is not "Sinhala nationalism" as the Sinhalese often portray. This is gutter politics; speaking untruthful and detrimental things against fellow citizens. In this instanjce it is the Tamils.
Gutter politics has lead the South to discriminate and dehumanise Tamils , collectively punish them and carry out human rights violations and Tamil genocide. Now, SL is soaked in this evil.
What is needed now is remorsefulness and repentance from the Sinhalese political leaders for their gutter politics of the past, admit guilt and make it illegal and punishable constitutionally.