Commonwealth Legal Index of Media Freedom
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in London have compiled the first legal index for the Commonwealth media. The first section is published here as a PDF: CHRI Media Legal Index - Pt 1
When it is complete, the report will be comprised of several individual parts. First it is a country by country catalogue on areas covering broadcasting and press regulation, criminal and civil defamation and finally any other major peices of state regulation or law which inhibit reporting on human rights violations. These are presented as indiidual country profiles and are based on exhaustive research into each Commonwealth country's legislation, regulation and case law.
The second aspect of the report will be a series of essays written on the pertinent topics which affect how human rights defenders report on violations as well as essays discussion the purpose and structure of the report. The content of these reports include the structure of regional human rights regimes, a guide to the types of libel, the methedology of the report and which Commonwealth states were excluded from the report and why.
Further information on this report and the work of the CHRI is available on their website: www.humanrightsinitiative.org/london/default.htm
