International Press Institute Urges UN To Ensure Interference With Colombo Telegraph Ends
March 25, 2014
In an open letter to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, and members of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie called on them to “do everything in [their] power to ensure that the interference with the Colombo Telegraph and other news websites ends, and that the government respects its international commitments to press freedom”.
“IPI would like to call your attention to press freedom restrictions imposed by the Sri Lankan government. In particular, we are concerned about the ban imposed on the Colombo Telegraph, an on-line newspaper, and other news websites that are being blocked in Sri Lanka. We believe these actions represent a serious violation of people’s right to access a broad range of information and opinions.” it said.
“Sri Lanka must ensure that the website of the Colombo Telegraph and other news websites are not blocked in the country, as this represents an unacceptable form of pre-publication censorship,” IPI Press Freedom Manager Barbara Trionfi said.
We publish below the statement in full;
Vienna, March 25, 2014
Open letter on the blockage of the Colombo Telegraph’s website in Sri Lanka
To the attention of:
Mr. Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
Members of the UN Human Rights Council
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Human Rights Council Branch
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Your Excellencies,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in more than 120 countries, would like to call your attention to press freedom restrictions imposed by the Sri Lankan government. In particular, we are concerned about the ban imposed on the Colombo Telegraph, an on-line newspaper, and other news websites that are being blocked in Sri Lanka. We believe these actions represent a serious violation of people’s right to access a broad range of information and opinions.
Alison Bethel McKenzie
According to IPI’s sources, the website of the Colombo Telegraph, run by a group of exiled journalists, is frequently targeted by the authorities in Sri Lanka and has been periodically blocked in the country since 2011, most recently starting in February 2014. According to a Feb. 20 Colombo Telegrapharticle, Sri Lanka’s Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) “officially issued instructions to mobile service providers to block Colombo Telegraph and other critical websites on its servers, with a warning that the companies are to maintain to customers that the inability to view the sites on the networks were merely ‘technical’ problems.”Read More
