recover lost ground
Cuba still near bottom ; Americas continue to be beset by violence,
especially Peru and Mexico
Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the
level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world that is
published today by Reporters Without Borders for the sixth year running.
"There is nothing surprising about this," Reporters Without Borders
said. "Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in
North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last,
Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom. We know that four journalists have
died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will
suffer the same fate."
Outside Europe - in which the top 14 countries are located - no region
of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists.
Of the 20 countries at the bottom of the index, seven are Asian
(Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea),
five are African (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and
Eritrea), four are in the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestinian
Territories and Iran), three are former Soviet republics (Belarus,
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and one is in the Americas (Cuba).
A year and a half after Raúl Castro took over as acting president in
Cuba (165th), the predicted transition has in no way changed the human
rights situation on the island. After China, Cuba continues to be the
world's second largest prison for the press, with 24 journalists
detained and subjected to very harsh prison conditions.
Violence and censorship in the Americas
No journalist was killed in Colombia (126th) during the 12 months
considered by this ranking. This is a first. Nonetheless, the media
continue to be exposed to pressure and harassment by armed groups and
paramilitaries. Cases of violence against journalists were reported in
Brazil (84th) and Argentina (82nd) but the record was set by Peru
(117th) with nearly 100 journalists physically attacked and many cases
of threats as well.
Mexico continues to be the continent's most dangerous country for the
press. Eight journalists were killed there during the 12 months from
September 2006. The police and judicial authorities failed to identify
all those responsible and impunity continues to be rule.
In Venezuela (114th), the RCTV television station's exclusion from
terrestrial broadcasting at President Hugo Chávez's behest on 27 May
captured all the attention. Criticised even by some of the Bolivarian
president's own supporters, the measure highlighted the extent to which
the government has taken control of radio and TV.
Fickleness of young democracies
Some non-European countries have made their first appearance in the top
50. They are Mauritania (50th), which has climbed 88 places since 2004,
Uruguay (37th) and Nicaragua (47th). "We hope these improvements will be
lasting ones," Reporters Without Borders said. "Bolivia (68th) rose
dramatically last year, but that improvement unfortunately seems to have
been purely circumstantial as it has fallen many places this year
because of serious press freedom violations."
Some countries that traditionally held a good position have also fallen
noticeably. This is the case with Benin (53rd) and Mali (52nd).
Journalists have been imprisoned in these two African countries for the
first time in several years for defamation or insulting the president.
In the Americas, El Salvador (64th) also dropped from the top 50,
falling 36 places in two years.
G8 members, except Russia, show slight improvement
After falling steadily in the index for the past three years, the G8
members have recovered a few places. France (31st), for example, has
climbed six places in the past year. French journalists were spared the
violence that affected them at the end of 2005 in a labour conflict in
Corsica and during the demonstrations in the city suburbs. But many
concerns remain about repeated censorship, searches of news
organisations, and a lack of guarantees for the confidentiality of
journalists' sources.
There were slightly fewer press freedom violations in the United States
(48th) and blogger Josh Wolf was freed after 224 days in prison. But the
detention of Al-Jazeera's Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj, since 13 June
2002 at the military base of Guantanamo and the murder of Chauncey
Bailey in Oakland in August mean the United States is still unable to
join the lead group.
Italy (35th) has also stopped its fall, even if journalists continue to
be under threat from mafia groups that prevent them from working in
complete safety. Japan (37th) has seen a letup in attacks on the press
by militant nationalists, and this has allowed it to recover 14 places.
"These developments are good news," Reporters Without Borders said.
"Perhaps the repeated calls to these democracies to behave in an
exemplary manner has finally borne fruit. But we must remain careful and
vigilant. Nothing can be taken for granted and we hope this trend will
continue or even accentuate near year. We regret all the same that only
two G8 members, Canada (18th) and Germany (20th), managed to be among
the top 20."
Russia (144th) is not progressing. Anna Politkovskaya's murder in
October 2006, the failure to punish those responsible for murdering
journalists, and the still glaring lack of diversity in the media,
especially the broadcast media, weighed heavily in the evaluation of
press freedom in Russia.
Reporters Without Borders compiled this index by sending a questionnaire
to the 15 freedom of expression organisations throughout the world that
are its partners, to its network of 130 correspondents, and to
journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It
contained 50 questions about press freedom in their countries. The index
covers 169 nations. Other countries were not included because of lack of
data.
No comments:
Post a Comment