Sri Lanka: New censorship regulations for journalists covering civil war

On November 6, the information department issued an immediate ban prohibiting "the publication, broadcast or transmission of sensitive military information" after last week's wave of attacks against government troops by Tamil rebels in the Wanni region of northern Sri Lanka. Director of Information Ariya Rubasinghe introduced the regulations in a press release, stating that Òthe fresh promulgation is meant to plug any loopholes that may have existed in the previous notification."

The last order governing press coverage of the civil war came on June 6, 1998, when Sri Lanka's defense ministry announced that all photographs, news reports and television material on the war must be submitted to the military for screening. CPJ sent a letter to Your Excellency on June 9, 1998, noting that these regulations were exceptionally harsh, and all the more troubling because of the military's direct role in deciding what is censored. Though the military censor was replaced by Rubasinghe, a civilian official, in December 1998, and the foreign media exempted from the screening requirements, censorship of domestic media has continued.

The current notification makes no mention of foreign correspondents based in Sri Lanka, and it remains unclear whether they too will be forced to abide by the new restrictions.

As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, CPJ deplores your government's attempts to control media coverage of Sri Lanka's 16-year-old civil war. We believe that no democratically elected government should resort to such authoritarian tactics to suppress the news. With the presidential election scheduled for December 21, it is especially crucial that matters of vital public interest be addressed openly.

We urge Your Excellency to lift these censorship regulations immediately, and to make good on the promises you made in 1994, when you came to power on a platform championing civil liberties, including press 'freedom.

We thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and await your response.

Sincerely,

Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director

---

Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Sri Lanka

Send a letter to:


Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1
Sri Lanka

VIA FAX: 011-94-1-333-703