Amid ongoing attacks on journalists, CPJ advocacy in Europe and Central Asia has generated some positive results. Earlier this month, a CPJ delegation met with Russian and European officials, who promised to revisit 17 journalist murders in Russia since 2000. The declared commitment to reverse Russia’s grim record of impunity came after we presented our…
Dear Mr. President: It has been nearly three years since Vietnam was accepted into the World Trade Organization and your government announced its intention to play a more prominent role in international organizations and multilateral forums. Your participation in this week’s United Nations General Assembly and your country’s scheduled assumption next year of the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are testament to Vietnam’s more engaged approach to international relations.
New York, September 24, 2009—A newspaper editor in police custody in Niger since Sunday was charged with criminal libel on Wednesday in connection with a story accusing a top official of involvement in a corruption scandal, according to local journalists and news reports.
New York, September 24, 2009—Veteran television journalist Diego de Jesús Rojas Velásquez was gunned down Tuesday outside the central Colombian city of Supía, according to interviews and press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Colombian authorities to thoroughly investigate the killing.
New York, September 24, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Tunisian government-backed smear campaign against the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite television station. The campaign has had a negative impact on freedom of expression in Tunisia.
New York, September 23, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists applauds a Philippine Supreme Court decision to grant a change of venue in the trial of a defendant in the attempted murder of radio journalist Nilo Labares, who was shot and injured in Cagayan de Oro City in March. The transfer is the third venue change…
Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists is heartened by your recent directive to the prime minister to renew consultations with the press on the decriminalization of press offenses in Senegal. Yet your directive came on the same day a judge in the central town of Kaolack imprisoned two journalists who reported allegations of local government corruption in the distribution of seeds—a reminder of the urgent need for press law reform.
Dear Mr. President: While you are in New York this week to attend the United Nations General Assembly, your visit will be covered by the hundreds of journalists from around the world who are in the city for the annual gathering. But as many of these journalists report freely and openly on your speech and meetings they will no doubt be thinking of the dozens of journalists back in your country who are behind bars for trying to report on events in Iran.
New York, September 22, 2009—The Chinese government should stop censoring Web sites and protect Internet users from cyber attacks in advance of upcoming National Day celebrations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. October 1 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.