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Don't misuse laws on contempt: UNESCO tells judges
A United Nations body yesterday called on judges to refrain from indiscriminate use of powers on contempt and exercise extreme caution in the grant of restraint orders in contempt cases that have an impact on the right to freedom of expression.

The recommendations were made in a UNESCO declaration on Media and Judicial Independence adopted at Manesar, Hariyana, India yesterday. The meeting to finalise the declaration was attended by participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The declaration has made recommendations to be considered by governments, courts, the legal profession, media and civil society, among others. The move came after the participants acknowledged that the laws on contempt had been misused across the region, particularly in recent years.

Judges were called on to use powers of contempt only in circumstances of extreme necessity where the integrity of the justice administration process was seriously threatened and never to use those powers vindictively or to wreak private vengeance.

The judiciary was also called upon to ensure that cases involving contempt were never heard by any judge in relation to whom the alleged contempt was committed and that any conviction for contempt was based on evidence that was clear, cogent and beyond reasonable doubt. They were also called upon to ensure that the powers of contempt should never be used to prevent public comment on legal proceedings that had been disposed of regardless of an appeal or review.

The declaration also called upon judges to ensure that the confidentiality of a journalist's sources was respected.

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