UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
UN Headquarters
First Avenue, New York, USA

4 April 2008

Dear Secretary General,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our dismay at the adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of a resolution that undermines the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression.

On 28 March, the UN Human Rights Council approved an amendment proposed by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that undermines the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and may have a negative impact on freedom of expression. The amendment requires the Special Rapporteur to “report on instances where the abuse of the right of freedom of expression constitutes an act of racial or religious discrimination, taking into account Articles 19(3) and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and General Comment 15 of the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination which stipulates that the prohibition of the dissemination of all ideas based upon racial superiority or hatred is compatible with the freedom of opinion and expression.”

The resolution goes against the spirit of the role of the Special Rapporteur by requiring him to look at abusive expression rather than focusing on the more widespread problem of abusive limits on expression. The resolution also lacks balance in focusing on restrictions to freedom of expression, rather than on the idea of an appropriate balance between the positive protection for the right to freedom of expression and the need to limit incitement to racial and religious hatred.

Furthermore, the amendment is unnecessary - it is inherent in the mandate that the Special Rapporteur should consider and comment on appropriate limitations to the right to freedom of expression - and open to misinterpretation.

We are concerned at what appears to be the emergence of a negative trend against freedom of expression in the UN Human Rights Council. On 30 March 2007, the Council passed a resolution, sponsored by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC, which opened the door to states restricting freedom of expression on the grounds that it might offend religious sensibilities.

We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to protect the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. We also ask that you take all possible steps to ensure that international standards of freedom of expression are fully supported by the UN Human Rights Council and not undermined by resolutions such as this.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

cc Ambeyi Ligabo, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Opinion and Expression

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.