• Tunisian journalists protest for freedom of speech in Tunis on October 17, 2012.
    © 2012 Reuters
    Ethiopia: Terrorism Law Decimates Media
    The Ethiopian government should mark World Press Freedom Day, on May 3, 2013, by immediately releasing all journalists jailed under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law. On May 2, 2013, the Supreme Court upheld an 18-year sentence under the anti-terrorism law for Eskinder Nega Fenta, a journalist and blogger who received the 2012 PEN Freedom to Write Award.
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Press Freedom

  • Repressing Rights While Talking Law in Uganda
    May 24, 2013
    “The police [are] working within the parameters of the law,” Uganda’s information minister, Mary Karooro Okurut, told journalists on Monday in Kampala, hours after police had forced two newspapers and two radio stations to shut down while they conducted a search – and kept them shut. After years of documenting human rights abuses in Uganda, including threats to free expression, I was not impressed by her words. Her claim that the day’s events were grounded in law only further illustrated the government’s emerging practice of citing laws to justify repression.
  • United States: Facebook Makes Human Rights Commitment
    May 22, 2013
    Facebook has taken a critical step toward increasing respect for human rights by joining the Global Network Initiative.
  • Extractive Industries: A New Accountability Agenda
    May 21, 2013
    The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was founded in 2003 with the goal of strengthening governance by increasing transparency over revenues from the oil, gas, and mining sectors. EITI has contributed to much greater disclosures of information and helped spur dialogue in many countries. But EITI has not made progress toward its ultimate purpose of enhancing accountability in resource-rich countries. An independent evaluation commissioned by EITI in 2011 concluded, “EITI has not been a significant driver of change. While transparency has improved, accountability does not appear to have changed much.” The evaluation attributed this problem to the absence of a coherent strategic vision, explaining that without clarity on how publicizing credible data on natural resource revenues would lead to better governance, EITI would not be able to direct its efforts to where they would be most likely to deliver results.
  • Letter to Ms. Clare Short, Chair of the EITI International Board
    May 21, 2013
    I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch regarding your efforts to adapt the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Human Rights Watch shares your concern that this initiative, despite achieving greater transparency over the funds resource-rich governments earn from oil, gas, and mining, has not brought about the desired results of improving governance in resource-rich countries. It is clear that transparency on its own does not lead to greater public accountability.
  • Uganda: Stop Harassing the Media
    May 20, 2013
    The Ugandan government should immediately end politically motivated police intimidation of newspapers and radio stations and ensure that the media can operate freely.
  • Hungary: Rule of Law Under Threat
    May 16, 2013
    The systemic changes to Hungary’s legal framework introduced by the government since 2010 weaken legal checks on its authority, interfere with media freedom, and undermine human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
  • Jordan: End Free Speech Prosecution
    May 4, 2013
    Jordanian criminal justice authorities should immediately drop their three-year prosecution of two intellectuals and withdraw all charges against them.
  • Ethiopia: Terrorism Law Decimates Media
    May 3, 2013
    The Ethiopian government should mark World Press Freedom Day, on May 3, 2013, by immediately releasing all journalists jailed under the country’s deeply flawed anti-terrorism law. On May 2, 2013, the Supreme Court upheld an 18-year sentence under the anti-terrorism law for Eskinder Nega Fenta, a journalist and blogger who received the 2012 PEN Freedom to Write Award.
  • Sudan: Stepped-Up Assault on Media Freedom
    May 3, 2013
    Sudan should immediately stop censoring newspapers and end all forms of repression of media and journalists, on World Press Freedom Day.
  • South Sudan: Stop Harassing, Detaining Journalists
    May 3, 2013
    Security force harassment and unlawful detention of journalists is undermining freedom of expression in South Sudan, the Agency for Independent Media (AIM), Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Human Rights Watch said today, on World Press Freedom Day.
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