Sri Lanka's opposition accused the government on Friday of further crushing media freedom, echoing criticism by press rights groups which had just left the Indian Ocean island nation. Sri Lanka, locked in a 25-year-old civil war, is ranked 165th out of 173 countries on the 2008 World Press Freedom Index published by media rights group Reporters Without Borders. It lags Somalia and Iraq and is just ahead of Iran and China. Sri Lanka was also ranked the world's third deadliest place for journalists in 2007, after Iraq and Somalia, by Paris-based media freedom group the World Association of Newspapers.
The main opposition United National Party said new rules for private TV channels, including annual license renewals and the government's ability to use broad national security grounds to shut down stations, were the latest attacks on freedom. "The space for democracy is gradually being eroded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government," Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters.
Government officials could not be reached on Friday and did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Sri Lanka failed in May to be voted onto the U.N. rights body for what watchdogs said were a host of documented abuses, including the use of child soldiers, torture, abduction, murder, and lack of media freedom. The government admits problems, but says it is working to tackle them and has made improvements. The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka, which visited the country this week, said journalists were not benefitting.
DETERIORATING SITUATION
"The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka ... found a deterioration in ... press freedom ... marked by a continuation in murders, attacks, abductions, intimidation and harassment of the media," it said in a statement. The government has been accused of taking an increasingly heavy-handed approach towards critics of its military policy since the war flared two years ago amid a failing ceasefire. Sri Lanka has intermittently censored media reports of the civil war since it started in 1983.
Now it has all but shut off the war zone to journalists and most aid groups. Last week, the military's media office stopped providing casualty figures. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE), which is on U.S., E.U. and Indian terrorism lists, was also blamed by the press mission. "In LTTE-controlled areas, freedom of expression and freedom of movement continue to be heavily restricted, preventing diverse opinions and access to plural sources of information," it said.
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The main opposition United National Party said new rules for private TV channels, including annual license renewals and the government's ability to use broad national security grounds to shut down stations, were the latest attacks on freedom. "The space for democracy is gradually being eroded by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government," Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters.
Government officials could not be reached on Friday and did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Sri Lanka failed in May to be voted onto the U.N. rights body for what watchdogs said were a host of documented abuses, including the use of child soldiers, torture, abduction, murder, and lack of media freedom. The government admits problems, but says it is working to tackle them and has made improvements. The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka, which visited the country this week, said journalists were not benefitting.
DETERIORATING SITUATION
"The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka ... found a deterioration in ... press freedom ... marked by a continuation in murders, attacks, abductions, intimidation and harassment of the media," it said in a statement. The government has been accused of taking an increasingly heavy-handed approach towards critics of its military policy since the war flared two years ago amid a failing ceasefire. Sri Lanka has intermittently censored media reports of the civil war since it started in 1983.
Now it has all but shut off the war zone to journalists and most aid groups. Last week, the military's media office stopped providing casualty figures. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE), which is on U.S., E.U. and Indian terrorism lists, was also blamed by the press mission. "In LTTE-controlled areas, freedom of expression and freedom of movement continue to be heavily restricted, preventing diverse opinions and access to plural sources of information," it said.
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