COMMENTARY: East Timor Media Law raises serious concerns

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[Facilitator's note: Thank you to Charmaine Rodrigues, Crisis Governance Specialist (Inclusive Political Processes), UNDP New York, for sharing this information.]

In East Timor, as in many States emerging from long periods of undemocratic rule, unprofessional reporting by journalists is a widespread problem. A Media Law adopted in May of this year by the National Assembly, which is currently awaiting Presidential signature, was justified in part as being necessary to address this problem. Comments on the Law by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) reveal serious problems in terms both of human rights and of the stated goals of the law.

Read the CLD analysis here.

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