IFEX – News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT – ARMENIA
3 July 2007
Proposed laws would curb media freedoms and effectively ban regional radio
station, says Human Rights Watch
SOURCE: Human Rights Watch
**For further information on the A1+ case, see IFEX alert of 25 June 2002;
for the Babajanian case, see alerts of 12 September and 7 July 2006; please
note that in previous alerts the journalist’s name was spelled
Babadzhanian**
(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).
For further information, contact Jane Buchanan, (English, Russian), New
York, tel: +1 212 216 1857, mobile: +1 917 553 4315; or Human Rights Watch,
350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor, New York NY 10018-3299, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 290
4700, fax: +1 212 736 1300, e-mail: [email protected], Internet:
The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of Human
Rights Watch. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please
credit Human Rights Watch.
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