Press Freedom Overview

Kazakhstan will become the first ex-Soviet state to assume the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The oil-rich Central Asian state will occupy the chair in 2010 -- one year later than it had sought, OSCE Deputy Spokesperson Virginie Coulloudon told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (REF/RL) in Madrid just after the two-day summit's final press

Press freedom in Tunisia is going thorough one of its worst phases. There have been blatant attempt to silence subversive voices through censorship and intimidation. Judicial courts are appallingly used to infringe on the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Tunisia has both signed and

Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world published Tuesday by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) for the sixth year running. Outside Europe — in which the top 14 countries are located — no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists. “There is nothing surprising about

Twenty members of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) have set up a Burma Action Group to support protesters and journalists in their struggle against the recent military crackdown in the country. Participants at the IFEX general meeting last week in Montevideo, led by Soe Myint of Burmese exile-run news agency Mizzima News, called for a factfinding mission to the notoriously

Civil society groups in more than 60 countries celebrated the International Right to Know Day on September 28. Documentation of the past year's achievements of the right to access government information in various countries were released by ARTICLE 19, Privacy International, and the Open Society Justice Initiative. "Although the global movement suffered setbacks in 2007, the bottomline is that

The Valle del Cauca department in western Colombia has one of the highest rates of press freedom violations in the country, forcing journalists into silence, the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP) has found. According to the analysis, from 2003 to mid-2007, 50 violations were documented: 35 journalists were threatened, five of whom fled into exile; and three

Turkey continues to use the judicial system to curb free expression. Journalists are still being charged under Article 301 of Turkey's Penal Code, which makes "insulting Turkishness" a crime punishable by prison terms. In the first six months of this year, 451 people were involved in 94 trials for using their right to freedom of expression out of which 17 were under Article 301. The controversial

Two newsmen, Befekadu Moreda from Ethiopia and Paulos Kidane from Eritrea, both tried to flee the region to escape government oppression. But "one life (was) saved and the other lost." In a special report, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recounts their stories and provides a glimpse into the adversity facing journalists in the volatile Horn of Africa. In his native Ethiopia, Moreda was

The decapitated body of a Sudanese newspaper editor accused of insulting Islam was recovered Wednesday, a day after he was kidnapped by masked gunmen. MOURNERS ALL: Sudanese mourners carry the body of the chief editor of a Sudanese independent daily, Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, who provoked a furore by publishing an article denounced as blasphemous and was found dead a day after being abducted

The working condition of journalists in Azerbaijan is changing for the worse, where they are being targeted by the State to set an example against free expression. The country, ironically, scooped up a Freedom of Expression prize this year, given jointly by the Norwegian Freedom of Expression Foundation (Fritt Ord) and German ZEIT Foundation. RSF has said, “If President Ilham Aliev wants to