Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 31 January 2014
Subjects: 1) Egypt and 2) Ukraine
1) Egypt
We are extremely concerned about the increasingly severe clampdown
and physical attacks on media in Egypt, which is hampering their ability
to operate freely.
In recent months, there have been numerous
reports of harassment, detention and prosecution of national and
international journalists as well as violent attacks, including several
that led to injuries to reporters trying to cover last weekend’s third
anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Unconfirmed reports suggest that
several journalists were wounded by live fire as well as rubber bullets
last Saturday, some of which may have been fired by opponents of the
government as well as by police and other government forces. This
accentuates the difficult and increasingly dangerous environment for
journalists trying to carry out their work in the country.
A
significant number of other journalists covering events related to the
anniversary were detained by the authorities, although most are reported
to have now been released.
Wednesday’s announcement that the
Egyptian Prosecutor-General intends to bring to trial 16 local and 4
foreign journalists alleged to have worked for the international
broadcaster Al Jazeera, on vague charges including “aiding a terrorist
group” and “harming the national interest”, is also of great concern.
It
has not only placed a sharp focus on the systematic targeting of Al
Jazeera staff – five of whom are actually in custody -- since the fall
of the previous government last July, but also led to increased fears
among the media in general, both national and international, which is
clearly deeply detrimental to freedom of expression and opinion.
Journalists
working for other media organizations have reported being attacked by
government supporters after being accused of working for Al Jazeera. A
video has also emerged which appears to show a police officer
threatening a camera crew working for another TV station that, if they
did not stop filming, he would tell bystanders they worked for Al
Jazeera so that they would be attacked. If confirmed, this lends
credence to allegations that the anti-Al Jazeera campaign in Egypt is,
on occasion, amounting to incitement to violence.
We have also
received numerous reports of intimidation of journalists, who have had
their equipment seized, and in some cases of local journalists who have
been sacked for reporting on sensitive issues. There are also reports of
journalists in detention being subjected to ill-treatment or being held
in conditions that are not in line with international human rights
standards.
We urge the Egyptian authorities to promptly release
all journalists imprisoned for carrying out legitimate news reporting
activities in exercise of their fundamental human rights. It is the
State’s obligation to ensure that the right to freedom of expression is
respected, and that journalists are able to report on diverse views and
issues surrounding the current situation in Egypt.
All reports
of violence against journalists, including the attacks on 25 January,
must be independently and transparently investigated.
2) Ukraine
We welcome the beginning of dialogue between the President and the
opposition. We call for this dialogue to be sustainable, inclusive and
grounded on the full respect of international human rights treaties
ratified by Ukraine and political commitments made through the Human
Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review, last March.
We also welcome the abolition by the Ukrainian parliament earlier
this week of the laws passed on January 16, which unnecessarily
restricted the exercise of the rights to freedom of assembly,
association and speech, as well as the operation of NGOs. We call upon
the President of Ukraine to sign the new law abolishing the legislative
package of January 16.
However we are appalled by the deaths
reported in recent days in Kiev, which should be promptly, thoroughly
and independently investigated. We are also calling for an investigation
into reports of kidnappings and torture.
We reiterate our
call to the Government and protesters to exercise restraint and create
conditions for dialogue and reconciliation. International human rights
norms and Ukraine's compliance with these standards and its obligations
pertaining to human rights must be at the centre of any future solutions
and reconciliation processes.
ENDS
For more information or media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org )
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