UN

Adding to a mounting body of international legal opinion, two landmark rulings held that public officials may not be shielded from public scrutiny. In May, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights voided a criminal defamation sentence against a local journalist and urged Argentina to reform its defamation laws in line with regional standards. Two months later, the country’s Supreme Court of Justice affirmed the “actual malice” standard in determining liability in defamation cases involving public officials.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan
United Nations
New York, NY 10017

BY FAX: (212) 963 4879

Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

On the occasion of the United Nations Security Council's special focus on Africa this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) would like to alert you to its concerns over press freedom in Africa, particularly in the three countries for which open briefings will be held---namely the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola and Burundi.