Religion vs. freedom of expression: World Press slams UNHRC

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum (WAN) has condemned the UN Human Rights Council's repeated efforts to undermine freedom of expression in the name of protecting religious sensibilities.

The UN council's proper role is to defend freedom of expression and not to support the censorship of opinion at the request of autocracies, the WAN Board said in a resolution issued during the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world's press held in Goteborg, Sweden last week. WAN and WEF issued six other resolutions to:

• Condemn widespread press freedom violations during the recent presidential elections in Zimbabwe.

• Invite newly-elected Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to decisively support and promote freedom of the press in Russia

• Appeal to African leaders to abolish libel and criminal defamation laws and to promote and implement the highest standards of press freedom as outlined in the Table Mountain Declaration.

• Call on Chinese authorities to release all imprisoned journalists and cyber-reporters ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games and to honour the press freedom commitments it made in its successful Olympic bid.

• Condemn the continued imprisonment of fourteen journalists in Eritrea and call for their release.

• Express deep concern over the growing tendency of sports organizations to restrict press coverage of their events, both in print and digitally.

In the resolution condemning actions by the UN Human Rights Council, WAN cited the Council's approval of an amendment proposed by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference requiring the Council's investigator to report on instances where the abuse of the right to freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination.

Sweden's King Carl Gustaf addresseing the WAN congress. Reuters

WAN said the amendment goes against the spirit of the work of the Special Rapporteur and would require him to investigate abusive expression rather than focusing on the endemic problem of abusive limits on expression imposed by governments, including many of those on the Council.

The WAN Board is concerned at what appears to be the emergence of a negative trend against freedom of expression in the UN Human Rights Council, the resolution said. In March 2007, the Council had already passed a resolution, sponsored by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which opened the door to the restrictions of freedom of expression by governments on the grounds that it might offend religious sensibilities. The United Nations Human Rights Council, whose stated purpose is to address human rights violations, is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which was often criticized for the high-profile positions it gave to member states that did not guarantee the human rights of their own citizens. International human rights groups have expressed concerned that the Council may be emulating the practices that discredited the Commission on Human Rights.

The WAN resolution called on the Council President and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protect the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and to ensure that international standards of freedom of expression and fully supported by the UN Human Rights Council and not undermined by it.

Li Chongging wins Golden Pen of Freedom award

A Chinese journalist who went to prison for reporting on a health threat before Chinese authorities announced it has been awarded the 2008 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

The award to Li Chongging, who was released from prison in February after serving three years for reporting on an outbreak of dengue fever, marked the second consecutive year that the annual award has gone to a Chinese journalist. It was the first time since WAN created the award in 1961 that journalists from the same country have won it in consecutive years.

Mr. Li was unable to obtain a passport and could not attend the award ceremony, held on June 2 in Goteborg, Sweden.

But in remarks read by Li Jianhong, a writer who had to leave China, Mr. Li said: "I am deeply aware that this is not an honour only to me in particular, but also an award in general to all of my colleagues who are bravely devoting themselves to freedom of expression, especially those in China."

The award was presented by George Brock, President of the World Editors Forum, during the opening ceremonies of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the annual global meetings of the world's press.

Mr. Li, who was freed from prison on February 2, was a reporter and deputy news director of the Fuzhou Daily in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. He was sentenced to prison in January 2006, for "fabricating and spreading false information". The charges stem from a report on the 2004 outbreak of dengue fever in Fuzhou that was posted on Boxun News Network, a Chinese-language website based in the United States.

Sweden honoured

The 61st World Newspaper Congress and 15th World Editors Forum opened in Sweden on June 2 in recognition of Sweden's superb media example for the rest of the world with its top-ranked digital developments combined with a deep love of print.

In the exploitation of the new opportunities created by the Internet, the Swedish, like their Nordic neighbours, have also proved leaders, whether through their digital news sites, video and web TV, the exploitation of mobile devices or in the convergence of their editorial operations, said Gavin O Reilly, President of the World Association of Newspapers, at the opening ceremony attended by a record 1,800 senior newspaper executives from 113 countries, in the presence of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, foreign ambassadors and other dignitaries.

In all league tables measuring the Internet whether in terms of audience, advertising market share, broadband penetration, Sweden ranks among the leaders. And yet, consider this: each and every day, in the midst of this highly wired and digitally-educated environment, about 90% of the adult population reads a newspaper in print, in 83% of cases paid for. They don't have to, it's not a legal obligation, they choose to, despite the existence of so many alternative channels for getting information and entertainment.

"If we don't keep our heads and keep uppermost in our minds the realities and hard factors about the enduring force and impact of our core, print businesses, who will do it for us? Not those with the loudest voice or the most provocative viewpoint who, unfortunately, are those who tend to shape perceptions about our industry," O Reilly said.

The 61st World Newspaper Congress, 15th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008, the global meetings of the world's press, ended on June 4. The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom and the professional and business interests of newspapers world wide. Representing 18,000 newspapers, its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups.