UNRC Opening Remarks at the Round table: “The Law On the Protection from Inaccurate (False) Information: current situation and implementation practice”

Tuesday 7 February 2023

Bishkek, Park Hotel

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Participants,

On behalf of the United Nations in the Kyrgyz Republic, I am grateful to the Media Actions Platform and Internews for the invitation to deliver opening remarks at today’s important event, which is a natural continuation of the dialogue that was held last year in November.  

I warmly welcome the representatives of national authorities, civil society and journalists, as well as my UN colleagues, colleagues from embassies and other international organizations.

As we have just heart from Tamara Valieva, we have gathered today in a spirit of openness and constructive dialogue to discuss how the implementation of the Law “On the Protection from Inaccurate (False) Information” is affecting independent mass media in the country, and how effective this law is in countering the dissemination of inaccurate or “false” information.  

Today’s event takes place against the backdrop of ongoing discussions at the Working Group on the draft Mass Media Law established under the Presidential Administration. I very much hope that the updated draft Law will be closely aligned with international human rights standards on freedom of expression as was recommended by the UN Human Rights Committee (in its Concluding Observations) in November 2022. And I hope that the Working Group takes its time to hear expert views and discuss the draft law benefitting from available expertise.  

In this context, I would like to commend the Presidential Administration for having established the Working Group as a result of the last roundtable held in November. I would also like to commend the national authorities for their commitment to later seek the Legal Opinion of  OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission on the final draft Law “On the Mass Media” (once it is ready). In addition to accessing authoritative legal expertise on very complex topics, by seeking the views of ODIHR and the Venice Commission, the Kyrgyz Republic will in an exemplary manner demonstrate in practice its political commitment to promote and uphold human rights not only at the international level, as a current member of the UN Human Rights Council, but first and foremost at the national level.  

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me recall that this year we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, under the campaign slogan “Dignity, Freedom, and Justice for All.” Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds and from all regions of the world, the Universal Declaration remains as relevant today as it was at the end of WWII. Through this document, the international community acknowledged that human rights and dignity are inherent to every single human being. Human rights are not granted by the State. They cannot be withdrawn.  

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.  This freedom is the basis of any democratic society. 

Let me also refer to the UN Human Right Committee’s General Comment 34 that explains the content of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that duplicates the Universal Declaration. The General Comment stresses the positive obligation of all States that ratified the Covenant to promote media freedoms and pluralism of publicly expressed opinions – as freedom of expression is essential to the enjoyment of all human rights and having an accountable and transparent Government. Transparency contributes to building trust. And legitimate, accountable and effective public institutions are based on trust from citizens. 

The General Comment also emphasizes that the free press and other media should be able to comment on public issues without censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion (…) via free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues.   

Freedom of information is a fundamental human right and it is the touchstone of all the freedoms for which the United Nations stand for. This freedom is also essential for the implementation of 2030 Agenda and all the Sustainable Development Goals. In his Call to Action for Human Rights in 2020, the UN Secretary-General explained why this is so: Policy-making becomes more relevant when it is informed by citizens, when women, men, girls and boys contribute to policymaking that affects their lives. Accessing information, engaging in dialogue and experiencing dissent if need be are essential in this regard.  

Free media are the “eyes and ears” of society in accompanying how decisions are made and in following how events unfold and how they affect people’s lives. The importance of a constructive and informed public discourse is difficult to overstate. Eventually, it makes societies stronger and more resilient. 

Naturally, and given the centrality of freedom of expression for national development and democratic processes, freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. The Article 10 states that “The mass media shall be guaranteed the right to receive information from state and local self-government bodies and their dissemination, and the right to freedom of expression. Censorship shall not be allowed in the Kyrgyz Republic”.  

Ladies and Gentlemen,  

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Human Rights Mechanisms have repeatedly underlined that aggressively combating what is viewed as harmful content risks silencing “protected speech”: speech that, under international law, is permitted. Intervening with, or removing content, affects the rights to freedom of expression and privacy, and can easily lead to censorship.  

Restrictive laws allow States to limit speech they dislike and even silence civil society or other critics. Such laws, in many countries, suffer from poor definitions of what constitutes “unlawful or harmful content”, and put over-emphasis on content take-downs with limited judicial oversight. Their implementation is often perceived as arbitrary.

With a view to the ongoing discussions in the Working Group on the draft mass media law, I wish to underline again what various UN structures and mechanisms have repeatedly stressed, namely  that the most effective way to address disinformation is by adopting a human rights-based approach. This means, and here I repeat my message from November of last year, adopting positive measures such as the promotion of independent fact-checking mechanisms and public education campaigns, instead of imposing excessive restrictions and over-regulation of freedom of the media and criminalizing and penalizing disinformation. Positive measures also include self-commitments of media to standards of freedom of expression and reporting, including fact checking of information as provided for in the Kyrgyz Ethics Code of Journalists. 

Let me conclude by quoting the UN General Assembly which has called upon States, with the above in mind, “to counter disinformation not through penalties, but through policy measures, including education, capacity-building for prevention and resilience to disinformation, advocacy and awareness-raising”. And any legislation regulating media freedoms should provide for effective appeals and redress procedures. 

I wish you a productive discussion today. 

Chon rahmat!