Legislation

New York, June 30, 2020 – Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon should not ratify proposed legal amendments that would threaten free expression in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 26, the country’s National Assembly, its upper house of parliament, unanimously approved amendments to the country’s administrative code making it illegal to…

New York, June 26, 2020 – In response to yesterday’s enactment of a new penal code in Honduras that maintains criminal penalties for so-called “crimes against honor,” including insult and slander, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Honduran lawmakers and President Juan Orlando Hernández had plenty of time to do the right…

New York, June 25, 2020 – Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbay Jeenbekov should reject recently proposed legislation that would mark a serious step toward curtailing press freedom in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, the country’s parliament held the second and third readings of proposed legislation called “On Manipulating Information” and passed it…

Bangkok, June 10, 2020 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte should reject pending anti-terrorism legislation or amend the law to ensure that it does not threaten press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 was submitted to Duterte’s office yesterday after its approval by the House of Representatives and Senate,…

Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other human rights and free expression groups in writing a letter to European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, requesting that human rights provisions be included in draft EU legislation concerning the exports of technology products such as surveillance software, which could be used for both civilian and…

New York, June 8, 2020 — Brazil’s Senate should drop proposed legislation seeking to regulate online content and so-called “fake news,” or amend the bill to ensure that free speech is protected, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Bill 2630, titled the “Lei das Fake News,” was originally scheduled for a vote on June…

Editors’ Note: On May 14, after CPJ published this article, the Bolivian representative to the Organization of American States announced that the government had issued a new decree eliminating the language that CPJ objected to in Decree 4231, and two other passages that had raised freedom of expression concerns, according to news reports and a…

Miami, May 14, 2020 — Uruguayan lawmakers should reject a proposed regulation criminalizing insulting police, and ensure that laws do not infringe on free expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Istanbul, May 11, 2020 — Turkish authorities should revise a recently passed financial regulation to ensure that it cannot be used against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At a public hearing on Nigeria’s social media bill held in Abuja last month, the voice of Chris Isiguzo, president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), rang clearly across the room: “This bill…seeks to pigeonhole Nigerians from freely expressing themselves.” The NUJ is “totally opposed” to it, he said.