Sri Lanka; a concern for Reporters Without Borders in Press freedom Review 2009

(December 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Reporters Without Borders says its concern in 2009 has been the mass exodus of journalists from repressive countries such as Iran and Sri Lanka. The authorities in these countries have understood that by pushing journalists into exile, they can drastically reduce pluralism of ideas and the amount of criticism they attract. “This is a dangerous tendency and it must be very strongly condemned,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said as the review of Press freedom in 2009 was released.

The review says that the Journalists are most at risk in the Americas (501 cases), particularly when they expose drug-trafficking or local potentates. Asia comes next with 364 cases of this kind, chiefly in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

"Media access is not always properly observed, as evidenced in provincial polling in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka," says the report. "The courage shown by journalists this year before and after elections earned them periods in custody, mistreatment and prison sentences that were in some cases extremely harsh. These post-election crackdowns should stimulate the international community to seek better ways of protecting the press after rigged election results are announced.


“This wave of violence bodes ill for 2010, when crucial elections are scheduled in Côte d’Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories” said Reporters Without Borders, which often carries out media monitoring during election campaigns."

At least 167 journalists are in prison around the world at the end of 2009. One would need to go back to the 1990s to find so many of them in jail. Although the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression keeps reiterating that imprisonment is a disproportionate punishment for press offences, many governments keep laws that allow them to jail journalists, and continue to abuse these laws. The sentences given to journalists in Cuba, China, Sri Lanka and Iran are as harsh as those imposed for terrorism or violent crime.

For the first time, the Reporters Without Borders annual roundup includes figures for journalists who have been forced to leave their countries because of threats to their lives or liberty. A total of 157 journalists went into exile in the past year, often in very harsh conditions. Among the countries where the exodus of journalists and bloggers was particularly dramatic were Iran, with more than 50 fleeing, and Sri Lanka, with 29.

Reporters Without Borders calls for calm amid pre-electoral tension in Sri Lanka

(December 09, Colombo - Lanka Polity) The political parties and candidate’s participating in next month’s elections must make press freedom and the protection of journalists a priority, Reporters Without Borders said today, after a group of state TV journalists were roughed up while covering an opposition meeting during the weekend.

 

“These elections are crucial for the country’s future, but they will not be considered democratic if there is no press freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The government and opposition must, as a matter of urgency, undertake to guarantee that all the media, regardless of their editorial line, will be free to go anywhere and interview whomever they want.

 

“The state-owned print media and TV stations must also provide balanced coverage, which is definitely not the case at the moment. By forcing the government media to campaign against the opposition, the president is putting journalists in danger, because they are being associated with him and his allies.

 

“The continuing ban on media visits to the north and the violence against state TV journalists at a meeting held by the opposition United National Party bode ill for the climate in which these elections will take place,” Reporters Without Borders warned.

 

Seven journalists working for state TV stations Rupavahini and ITN were slightly injured and their equipment was damaged when they were manhandled outside the location where the UNP had been holding a convention in Colombo on 5 December. UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake told Reporters Without Borders his party was not involved in the violence. At the same time, he confirmed that the journalists had not been invited to the meeting.

 

“As long as the state media continue to give a biased account of our activities, we will not invite them,” Karunanayake said. “We provided accreditation to about 100 journalists for this event and no one complained of any violence.” The opposition has even accused the government of orchestrating the incident for political purposes.

 

Reporters Without Borders added: “Opposition supporters may well be exasperated by the state media’s extremely biased coverage of political developments, but this kind of violence undermines their message.”

 

Media and information minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa called a news conference to express the government’s “anger” about the incident, which the police are investigating. His condemnation came just days after the government extended a ban on media visits to the north of the country, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians have just been allowed to leave detention camps.

 

The three main Tamil dailies in Jaffna received threatening letters on 24 November accusing them of playing into the hands of the “terrorists.”

 

The Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam must also be released before the elections, as there was no hard evidence to support his conviction and his detention therefore threatens the freedom of expression of all Tamil journalists.

Sri Lanka specially mentioned in press release issued by Reporters Without Borders to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared

 (August 29, 2009 - Lanka Polity) In a press release issued to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared on 30 August, Reporters Without Borders has provided a grim reminder that nothing has been heard, sometimes for years, of scores of journalists, who have been kidnapped, arrested or simply kept “appointments” that turned out to be traps in many countries including Sri Lanka.


Mexico, where eight journalists have disappeared since the year 2000, has been identified as the country most affected by this plague while Sri Lanka is mentioned next to that country.


Press release says "In January 2009, The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” surrounding the disappearances of journalists in the country. Soldiers arrested Subramaniam Ramachandran, correspondent for Tamil dailies Thinakural and Valampuri, close to a military camp, Kalikai Junction, in the north of Jaffna, in the north of the country on 15 February 2007. His family has heard nothing of him since then. He had been reporting on the illegal trade in sand, implicating a businessman and members of the military. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission handled the case and it was referred to the military authorities, including the commander in chief for the Jaffna region. But as lawyer Mudiyapu Remedias explained, in this type of case “everyone is afraid of challenging the army, which denied any involvement”.


"Vadivel Nimalarajah, a sub-editor on the popular Tamil daily in Jaffna, Uthayan, which is highly critical of the government, has not been heard of since 17 November 2007 when, colleagues believe, he was abducted while cycling home after working overnight at the paper."


“Whether carried out by agents of the state or local criminals bent on settling scores, the many disappearances of journalists highlights the fact that the enemies of press freedom have no hesitation in using the most cowardly and despicable methods to gag journalists. We restate our support for the families of the disappeared and we share the pain they suffer in the waiting and uncertainty about their fate”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.


“We urge the relevant authorities to systematically take these disappearances seriously and to open the badly-needed investigations to find these missing journalists and punish those responsible. It is moreover incredible that cases of ‘enforced disappearance’ implicating agents of the state or those acting with its support can still be going on around the world. We urge countries that have signed the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance to ratify the law as quickly as possible so that it can be put into force”, it added.