Full Coverage: Freedom of expression

29.11.2005 Nepal's oldest community radio station was shut down by government officials Sunday, and many other stations have switched to broadcasting "soft news." The move is making it difficult for the country's illiterate population to get news about last week's key agreement between Maoist rebels and the country's political parties, to which the king has not yet responded.

28.11.2005 The Matija Gubec civic initative for resistance to the space for political discretion, came out with public reaction on the ruling adopted by the Constitutional Court to abolish the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Law on Public Gathering.

28.11.2005 Civil Society organisations had earlier written to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan expressing serious concern about the suitability of Tunisia as a host country for the WSIS because of its poor huiman rights record. They have now asked him, again, to take follow up measures after serious attacks on human rights and the right to freedom of expression at the summit.

25.11.2005 Reporters Without Borders today urged Commonwealth heads of government to see that people killing journalists because of their work were duly punished, so the Commonwealth could become “a true home of democracy and freedom.” Many journalists have been killed in the south Asian region simply for doing their duty.

23.11.2005 The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia annulled earlier today the changes in the Law on Public Gathering which banned, some four months ago, all public gatherings within 100 metres from the buildings of the Croatian Sabor, the Presidential Offices, the Government of Croatia and the Constitutional court.

22.11.2005 Vesna Skare Ozbolt, Minister of Justice in the Croatian Government, announced last Sunday, November 20, that she will propose changes in the Criminal Code, which will erase slander and libel as criminal offence in all cases of public expression, including journalism, works of fiction, scientific works and other activities.

22.11.2005 The analysis of the media coverage in Serbia and in Kosovo shows that the media on both sides are filled with cliches and stereotypes, and that they are lacking in information on the daily living of common citizens, concluded the debate “Serbian Media on Kosovo: Mission Impossible”, held in Novi Sad.

22.11.2005 Savage beatings from the secret services and 20-year prison sentences handed down by the government have forced Zimbabwean journalists into exile across the world. Elisabeth Witchel of the Committee to Protect Journalists tracks down the journalists reporting from South Africa and London.

21.11.2005 The legitimacy of the World Summit On the Information Society had been put in question by the interference of the Tunisian authorities, and no UN-sponsored summit should ever again be held under such oppressive conditions, said a leading right group.

20.11.2005 On the afternoon of Friday, November 18, 2005, one of three stakeholders taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) drew a line in the sand. Civil society (CS) representatives from all continents lined up on a panel to deliver a stark closing statement. At the same time, International Telecommunications Union UN-o-crats drew conclusions of their own a couple of hundred meters away in the plenary room.

18.11.2005 Swiss Communications Minister Moritz Leuenberger denies a rupture with Tunisia over his government's controversial stand on the host government's treatment of journalists and human rights activists before the UN World Summit on the Information Society.

18.11.2005 APC vi go pretstavuva Taurai Maduna, informaticar od nevladina organizacija od Zimbabve, Kubatana i ucesnik na WSIS.
Maduna e ucesnik na rabotilnicata koja ja organizira HIVOS, nerecena "Izrazuvanje pod reprasija", koja se odrza deneska. Kako sto izjavuva, nego ne go interesira sto imaat da kazat vladite prisutni na WSIS, koi idat i nametnuivaat uslovi za koi ne moza da se pregovara, tuku go interesiraat ucesnicite od gragjanskite organizascii od cel svet i razmenata na idei.

18.11.2005 Taurai Maduna is an information officer with the Zimbabwean NGO online community Kubatana, and we met up with him in the middle of the exposition centre of the Kram, Tunis. APC's Karel Novotny reports from Tunis.

17.11.2005 In the last week of October and the first week of November of this year, an international conference on E-Society was held in Skopje, organized by Metamorphosis Foundation. Roberto Belicanec, the Executive Director of the Media Development Centre, presented his views on freedom of expression on the internet.

17.11.2005 Public TV and radio have existed for years in Mongolia, but new changes are bringing hope that national broadcasting could become truly public service media for the first time; good news for Mongolia's dispersed population, though concerns remain about how to finance and manage the service.

16.11.2005 The WSIS Second Phase opened officially today. In the followign plenary session, the largest applause by the civil society section of the plenary hall was given to Swiss President Samuel Schmid, for his comments on freedom of speech on the internet. Read more on APC blog dedicated to WSIS.

16.11.2005 The Zambian government has rejected a proposal to guarantee citizens the right to access public information as part of a new constitution being drafted for the country.

15.11.2005 The Chinese government knows that it is losing the battle to control the accessing and sharing of information it would prefer to restrict.

15.11.2005 This week Tunisia hosts the final meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), hoping to establish equitable access to information and communication technologies worldwide. Ironically, Tunisia has yet to guarantee its citizens' freedom of expression, says Amnesty International.