20 June 2006

Statement on the Anonymous Letter to the Media

The unknown regulation circulated on 19 June 2006 believed to be issued by the National security department as claimed by chief editors of the media in Kabul, contains some concerning points including the instruction on censorship.

The AIHRC encourages all state institution to respect the rights and freedoms of citizens and highlights once again that the freedom of expression and media are set out by the Afghanistan constitution and framed by the media law, thus no other institution is authorized to issue regulation in such to restrict the right and freedoms of citizens.

The AIHRC will take all necessary measures to prevent institutional interpretation of these rights and freedoms that will cause restriction and limitation on citizens specially media professionals practicing their rights and freedoms.
The AIHRC however is very much happy with the level of freedom of media and progress made in this field during the last four years, but is concern on dissemination of falls information to the public by media that causes a high level of loss of trust and confidence to the processes of state building and democratizations of Afghanistan.
We encourage the authorities including the security institution that in cases of violation of media law by media institution that they should submit a formal complaint to the media complaint commission rather then issuing regulation that are in contradiction with the current legal frame work.

The Commission also calls up the Ministry of Information and Culture to establish a mechanism that will enable the Ministry and the Commission for Media Complaints to respond quickly to such cases and to monitor the promotion and protection of freedom of expression in Afghanistan.