Persvrijheid als aanjager van andere mensenrechten
Gelegenheid:Toespraak van mensenrechtenambassadeur Arjan Hamburger ter gelegenheid van de 19de Internationale Dag van de Persvrijheid
One week ago Freedom House presented its annual overview of press freedom in the world. And the picture it describes is not rosy. Again, the general trend is negative. For the first time no region is excluded from this worrisome decline. As you may have read, 70 countries have full freedom of press, 125 have no or only partial freedom of press. In terms of world population, 17 percent of the people live in countries with full press freedom, 83 percent live in countries with no or only partial freedom of the press.
The Dutch government strongly defends press freedom and freedom of information – as part of the wider, and internationally codified, core fundamental human right of freedom of expression. A decline of freedom of the press is usually a warning sign that restrictions on other freedoms may soon follow. And vice versa, an increase in press freedom is often a catalyst for the advancement of other human rights.
As many of you undoubtedly have noticed, human rights have become a centerpiece of Dutch foreign policy.
Minister Verhagen has submitted – on behalf of the government – a strategy paper and an action plan to the Parliament. Recently, he presented the first annual report on the implementation of these two documents. Mid June Parliament will debate the state of things and give its view on our performance.
Let me emphasize that this focus on human rights is partially a result of our commitment to the plight of victims of gross human rights violations; but it is also a recognition that protection of human rights, together with promotion of the rule of law and democracy, contribute not only to freedom, but to stability and development in the world. And we see that as our international, European, and national responsibility and interest as well.
As a matter of fact, our Dutch Constitution obliges the government to promote the international legal order.
I also wish to underline that we consider fundamental human rights to be universal. We resist those governments that believe that these rights are a western invention, or a threat to national sovereignty, or of a lower order if incompatible with domestic traditional or religious laws.
Universality does not equal uniformity, but the right to human dignity is the same everywhere. This is not an easy fight, but it is essential to fight the fight. I hope that independent media will pay attention to this complex challenge.
Independent media are vital to help safeguard freedom of expression. That is why, through our development cooperation programmes, we support a variety of activities to promote that freedom and to stimulate media diversity. We work in particular in countries where governments oppress freedom and diversity. Where the opinion police and the mind controllers rule. Countries where the government is afraid of its people. Where governments don’t accept that they have to serve the people instead of the people serving them.
Let me add here how essential it is to support education, as an engine for progress and as a tool to realise the full potential of everyone, individually and collectively. It is the main consideration for Minister Koenders to allocate 15 percent of our development budget to the education sector.
We support training of journalists, we support media activities – frequently activities of the new media as well. In countries like Iran, Zimbabwe, Birma, China, Belarus, Egypt, Yemen, Qatar.
We support various non-governmental organisations which promote freedom of the press worldwide, such as Article 19, Free Voice, Press Now, IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange in Canada).
We have delegated part of our human rights fund to Dutch embassies who may use this budget to support, for example, journalists as defenders of human rights.
We give our full and explict support to the international special representatives, such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
We are, by the way, worried about the recent shift in the mandate of the UN Rapporteur who now also has to look into cases of abuse of freedom of expression, including with regard to defamation of religions.
And obviously, we (our Ministers, high officials) ask to stop violations of freedom of expression, of press, of opinion, of association, in our contacts and dialogues with other countries, bilaterally, through the European Union, or at the United Nations (for instance during the new country exams of the Human Rights Council). Often in cases of detention (or worse: killings) of journalists, but also in cases of more subtle, more hidden cases of oppression such as censorship or self-censorship stemming from intimidation.
One example : Last Sunday, in Utrecht, I signed the banner asking for the release of Sri Lankan journalist Tissainaygam. But I also raised his situation directly during my visit to Sri Lanka last year and during a recent discussion with the Sri Lankan Minister for Human Rights. Our Embassy in Colombo is following the case very closely. Evidently, Tissa is still in prison, without clear charges. There are vague accusations of terrorism sympathies. The Sri Lankan government is not very susceptible to external pressure as long as the fight against the terrorist Tamil Tigers is on. Thus, our interventions have not helped yet, but the pressure does make the government feel uncomfortable and should therefore be maintained.
By the way, one under-reported development is that the Sri Lankan government simply purchased some independent newspapers in order to bring their journalists and articles more in line with government positions.
Another example: last october, I visited Sudan: although not surprised, I was nevertheless shocked to learn that the national secret service agents paid daily visits to all independent newspapers to block unwelcome news, on Darfur or on President Bashir, or on the International Criminal Court in particular. Even the Foreign Minister admitted that his words were frequently eliminated from the news by the secret service. Sudan has an independent press council whose members are directly appointed by the President. So much for independence. We are looking into the possibility to give support to independent journalism in Sudan, and organisations like Free Voice already are very active.
In Belarus, a country that aspires to be closer to the European Union, we (that is: the EU, the Netherlands, the USA) insisted on opening up the fully state controlled system of subscriptions and distribution. The Government has recently given a permit to two relatively critical newspapers, but many others are still in the dark. But these are cosmetic steps to please the EU. We believe that our bilateral and EU dialogue with the country should be used to maintain pressure. One of our concrete activities is to support the European Radio for Belarus, targeted at young Belarusians, and broadcasting from neighbouring countries.
One subject that, in my opinion, does require more attention from a point of view of independence of expression, is the excessive concentration of media ownership – be it in state hands (such as the trend in Sri Lanka) or in private hands (as we see in Italy under Berlusconi, which has now led to the descent of Italy to the group of countries with partial press freedom).
And maybe – but this is not my immediate field of responsibility - it could be healthy to look into our own Dutch mirror and see what the situation is in our own country, for instance in terms of plurality, diversity and depth of news and information. The Netherlands is in the category “full freedom”, but has dropped and it would be good to address the reasons.
Although the Dutch government, and in particular our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is very active in this area of press freedom, it is clear that this can only be successful if it is part of a broad and deep effort, internationally and nationally, by governments, by international institutions, and by ngo’s and media alike. It is not enough to train journalists or support broadcasting, we should also work on education, on legislation, on implementing and monitoring implementation of that legislation, on creating and supporting truly independent press councils, on providing facilities.
Let me finish by saying that freedom of expression – the “mother” of freedom of the press – is central to the enjoyment and protection of all other human rights: freedom of expression is not – as someone said – about speaking out when you hit your thumb with a hammer; it is about allowing people to demand justice, to demand equality before the law, to demand information, to demand freedom to religion and belief. It contributes to tolerant and (as the Chinese leaders would say) more harmonious societies. It makes democracy more meaningful and institutions more accountable. It contributes to free and more balanced debate. In the Netherlands we go at great length to defend this freedom, including when it is used to express views that are controversial and shocking.
However, this freedom of expression should not be interpreted as an unlimited license to insult other people at will. The freedom carries special duties and responsibilities to consider the consequences of one’s words. The famous article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is quite explicit about these limits (“necessary for the respect of the rights or reputations of others, or for the protection of national security or of public order”) but it is also mandatory that these restrictions should be provided by the law. It is the Dutch view that governments may only restrict this freedom to a very limited extent, that the law should be precise in order to avoid confusion and double standards, that the law should in all cases be in full accordance with international human rights standards, and that only the courts can decide whether the law has been broken.
That, in our experience, has been the tried-and-tested-democratic way of doing things.