European Union

Following widespread allegations of human rights abuses in Togo, President Gnassingbé Eyadema and the ruling Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais (RPT) struggled all year to prove their commitment to democracy, promising parliamentary elections that were ultimately postponed until 2002 for “technical reasons.” Desperate to improve its international image while retaining a tight grip on power, RPT…

In an effort to improve its chances to join the European Union, the Turkish Parliament in October approved more than 30 amendments to the country’s restrictive constitution, which was passed in 1982 after a military coup two years before. Lawmakers are currently considering a proposal that would bring some of the nation’s repressive laws used…

President Robert Mugabe was named to CPJ’s list of the ten worst enemies of the press in 2001. See CPJ’s 2001 Enemies list. Backed by his volatile minister of information and publicity, Jonathan Moyo, Mugabe harangued, insulted, threatened, and intimidated journalists throughout the year. Mugabe, his unpopularity growing at home, found himself increasingly isolated on…

Your Excellency: Given the fact that Zimbabwean authorities had threatened to bar foreign correspondents from covering the March 9 and 10 presidential elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased that a number of foreign news reporters have been granted accreditation. However, we remain concerned that the accreditation process was applied selectively and that some foreign correspondents have been denied entry into Zimbabwe because of their professional affiliation or critical reporting on the country’s deepening political crisis.

November 19, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the apparent murder of four journalists who were seized yesterday while traveling between Jalalabad and Kabul. The journalists have been identified by their news organizations as Azizullah Haidari, an Afghan-born photographer for the Reuters news agency; Harry Burton, an Australian television cameraman for Reuters;…

New York, September 18, 2001—One year after the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, CPJ joins Gongadze’s widow in calling for an international investigation into the unsolved case. “President Kuchma and other cabinet officials have spent an entire year obstructing this inquiry,” said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. “Journalists in Ukraine will not feel safe…

LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS CONTINUED IN 2000, as Poland moved closer to joining the European Union. While journalists struggled under longstanding legal burdens, new court rulings favored press freedom, and legislation was drafted to improve access to information. Meanwhile, one violent attack against a journalist was recorded, and the political opposition alleged that the state…

MEDIA REFORMS INITIATED AFTER ROMANIA WAS INVITED to apply to join the European Union in November 1999 achieved only limited progress, and the country’s politicians spent much of the year debating laws that would limit, rather than promote, press freedom. The parliament also failed to eliminate or reduce criminal penalties for defamation, and journalists in…

In December 1999, the European Union (EU) finally agreed to accept Turkey’s application for membership. Yet questions remained about the government’s committment to the human-rights reforms needed to actually join the EU. If press freedom is any indicator, Turkey has a long way to go. Government censorship, criminal prosecutions, physical attacks, and imprisonment were among…