PROPOSED LAWS WOULD CURB MEDIA FREEDOMS AND EFFECTIVELY BAN REGIONAL RADIO STATION, SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
IFEX, Canada
International Freedom of Expression eXpress
4542/
July 3 2007
Country/Topic: Armenia
Date: 03 July 2007
Source: Human Rights Watch
Person(s):
Target(s): radio station(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): legal action
Urgency: Bulletin
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 29 June 2007 Human Rights Watch press
release:
Armenia: Parliament Must Not Silence RFE/RL
Strike Down Proposed Laws Curbing Media Freedoms
(New York, June 29, 2007) – The Armenian parliament should not adopt
two draft laws that would effectively ban future broadcasts of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a key source of independent
information in that country, Human Rights Watch said today.
The first, an amendment to the law "On Television and Radio",
prohibits retransmission of foreign broadcasts on Armenian public
television and radio frequencies. The second, an amendment to the law
"On State Taxes", establishes heavy fees for private companies that
air foreign broadcasts.
Both draft laws passed a first reading on Friday in the National
Assembly of Armenia, but must undergo a second reading, expected on
Monday or Tuesday, before they become law.
"These new laws clearly restrict access to a crucial independent
news source for many Armenians and deal a serious blow to RFE/RL and
to freedom of the media in general," said Holly Cartner, Europe and
Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The parliament should
under no circumstances pass this bill in the second reading."
The parliament’s actions appear to specifically target RFE/RL’s
Armenian service, the only foreign broadcaster that relies on Armenian
National Radio, the country’s public radio station, to reach the
majority of its audience.
RFE/RL is one of the only independent broadcast media outlets remaining
in Armenia. Although there is a vibrant print media, the government
maintains close control over the much more accessible broadcast media,
and recently closed the last independent television station, A1+,
in 2002.
RFE/RL is also occasionally broadcast via some private radio stations
in the country’s capital, Yerevan, and surrounding regions, but under
the proposed laws, private Armenian broadcasters would pay more
than US$200 in taxes each time they retransmit a program produced
by a foreign media organization. This fee is 70 times more than
broadcasters must pay for a locally made program.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE)
representative on freedom of the media, Miklos Haraszti, criticized the
bills, saying that they infringed Armenia’s commitments to safeguard
media pluralism and access to information, and called on the Armenian
authorities to drop them. Opposition politicians in Armenia lamented
the parliament’s decision to pass the bills and charged the government
with trying to control the media.
The two bills are incompatible with Armenia’s obligations under
the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 10 of the
ECHR guarantees the right "to receive and impart information and
ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of
frontiers." This right can only be restricted for limited and specific
reasons such as national security or public safety. The restrictions
placed on the rights of expression and imparting of information
by the bills do not meet these requirements. The importance of the
rights protected by Article 10 has been repeatedly emphasized by the
European Court of Human Rights. The court maintains that freedom of
expression is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society
and that the media plays a pre-eminent role in a state governed by
the rule of law. The court insists that any efforts by a government
to restrict freedom of expression be strictly scrutinized and the
reason convincingly established.
"By passing these laws, Armenia risks violating its international
commitments to freedom of expression and the media," said Cartner.
"As Armenia prepares for presidential elections in 2008, the world
will certainly be watching to see if the government respects freedom
of the media and other freedoms necessary for a free and fair vote."
The move is not the first effort by the Armenian government to limit
independent media. The independent television station A1+ lost its
broadcasting license in 2002, after regularly airing criticism of the
government, and lost 12 subsequent tenders for television and radio
frequencies. In June 2006, A1+, which produced a weekly newspaper and
maintains a website, was forced to vacate its offices, after losing
a court case in 2005 challenging a notice of eviction.
Human rights groups have reported violence against journalists in
retaliation for their work, and in September a court sentenced Arman
Babajanian, editor of the opposition newspaper Zhamanak Yerevan, to
four years in prison for failing to serve the compulsory two years of
military service. Although Babajanian admitted to forging documents
in 2002 in order to evade military service, the harsh sentence is
suspected to be retribution for the journalist’s persistent criticism
of government policies (draft evaders are usually sentenced to between
two and three years in prison).