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MISA supports petition to the African Union for Press Freedom
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Luckson Chipare, Regional Director
July 02, 2003

View the text of the petition

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), has been supporting and advocating for media freedom and freedom of expression in southern Africa for more than 10 years. MISA is therefore supporting a petition to the African Union (AU) calling for the abolishment of media laws and practices that restrict media freedom and freedom of expression in Africa.

The petition, launched by two African human rights groups, the Centre for Research, Education & Development Of Freedom of Expression & Associated Rights and FAHAMU, will be presented to President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, the Chairperson of the African Union, at a meeting of Heads of State in Maputo, Mozambique, from July 5 to 12, 2003.

In 1991 African journalists drew up a statement of principles calling for a free, independent and pluralistic media on the continent and throughout the world. This 1991 Unesco Declaration, which became known as the Windhoek Declaration, affirms that a free press is essential to the existence of democracy and a fundamental human goal. However, more than ten years after the Windhoek Declaration, many journalists in Africa are forced to operate in conditions which not only infringe on their capacity to operate as media practitioners, but also violate their basic human rights.

Without exception all the countries in the southern Africa region still retain an arsenal of legislation and laws from the colonial (or apartheid in the case of Namibia and South Africa) that are anathema to and threaten freedom of expression and media freedom in particular. In addition to this ominous state of affairs, in some countries further laws have been enacted, worsening an already precarious situation for media practitioners. Such laws range from legislation that limit or restrict access to official information, sedition and subversive activities provisions, national security, civil and criminal defamation, censorship and provisions enjoining disclosure of sources, to cite common examples.

While media freedom and freedom of expression advocates are hard at work to build a region safe for a free and independent media, it appeared as if governments, both regional and continental, would follow suit and endorse these democratic gains. Among others, the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport signed by the Heads of State and Government in August 2001, built on the Windhoek Declaration and reaffirmed the right of access to information, promising to create a political and economic environment conducive to the grow of ethical, diverse and pluralistic media. The reality on the ground paints a completely different picture as some of the same SADC governments continue to enact laws that make the environment less conducive for free expression.

And while the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights has adopted a Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, which stresses "the fundamental importance of freedom of expression as an individual human right, as a cornerstone of democracy and as a means of ensuring respect for all human rights and freedoms", there are reservations about how the Commission will enforce these measures in the context of the AU and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). While the Declaration does aspire to boosting free speech within the AU and Nepad initiative, the question must be asked as to how, for example, can the provisions of the African Charter be enforced on those governments who do not adhere to them?

MISA further appeals to the AU, as the custodian of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to ensure that democracy reigns throughout our continent. Articles 9 and 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, respectively guarantee every individual the right to receive information and to express and disseminate his opinions within the law, as well as the right to assemble freely with others.

MISA encourages its members to sign the petition, which can be found at: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/freeafricanmedia/

The petition asks for African leaders to release all incarcerated journalists and repeal anti-media and anti-freedom of expression legislation. National security laws, anti-terrorism legislation and criminal defamation laws have landed scores of journalists in prison throughout Africa and resigned many more to practising self-censorship.

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