H. E. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President of Sri Lanka
Office of the President
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Vienna, 10 June 1998

The International Press Institute (IPI) the global network of editors and media executives, strongly condemns new restrictions on military reporting in Sri Lanka.

The imposition on 5 June of the Emergency (Prohibition on Publication and Transmission of Sensitive Military Information) Regulations, No. 1 of 1998, effectively bans independent coverage of the war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Elam (LTTE) by both the foreign and local media. Amongst other things, the regulations require that all reports, photographs and videotapes pass through the hands of a military censor – the first time in Sri Lanka that the responsibility of censoring military news has been given to a military officer.

No reasons were given for the restrictions, which have attracted widespread criticism in Sri Lanka among media groups and opposition politicians. In protesting the censorship, Sri Lankan newspapers left columns blank in their weekend editions.

IPI is concerned that the imposition of censorship on military views will make only the official, Sate version of war available to Sri Lankans and will restrict the ability of citizens to make informed choice during the elections for the Provincial Councils, to be held in August. We regard this censorship move as a flagrant breach of the government’s election pledge to uphold press freedom in Sri Lanka, and find it all the more disconcerting that it comes at a time when the government had been negotiating with publishers, editors and press freedom groups over new constitutional guarantees for free expression.

IPI therefore appeals to Your Excellency to uphold the right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and calls on the government of Sri Lanka to immediately lift censorship restrictions on the media.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director