Reporters Without Borders (RWB) is raising the 'lamentable state of press freedom ' in Sri Lanka at a time when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is considering a major loan for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government.
In a letter to IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan dated May 5, the global media watch dog’s Secretary General Jean-Francois Julliard is urging the IMF to obtain specific undertakings from the government to respect press freedom and the rule of law in return for granting this loan.
Mr. Julliard wrote that the Sri Lankan government’s crushing victory over the LTTE at a cost of thousands of civilian casualties, has been accompanied by a ruthless campaign against the press and critical voices. Of all the countries with a democratically elected government, Sri Lanka is one that shows least respect for media freedom, he wrote.
Mr. Julliard added that Sri Lanka is spending as much as US$1.6 billion on defence in its 2009 budget, a 6.5% increase on the 2007 allocation, while neglecting social needs. Some army units are implicated in alleged 'war crimes ' . Others are suspected of responsibility for many cases of violence against journalists and human rights activists. Sri Lankan and foreign journalists have been kept away from the battlefield.
The authorities also restrict press access to the Jaffna peninsula and detention camps.
Mr. Julliard said there will be no process of reconciliation and reconstruction without press freedom. If Tamils are deprived of the media that represent them freely, even if these media are sometimes guilty of excesses, future generations will take up arms again. He also said it is vital that, as a conciliatory gesture, the Tamil journalists currently held, including J.S. Tissainayagam, are released.
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