The order of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that will effectively shut down the operations of Rappler, Inc., an independent digital media company that has been critical of the government, deviates from national jurisprudence and violates the internationally recognized right to freedom of expression by the media, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
An opinion piece by Carlos Lusverti, Latin America Legal Consultant at the International Commission of Jurists.
This op-ed was written by the ICJ’s Karuna Parajuli and Timothy Fish Hodgson. It was published on 10 June 2022 by the Kathmandu Post.
A new question and answer briefing by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) examines leaked amendments to Decree 88-2011 on the organisation of associations and the ways in which the amendments would damage to the right to freedom of association, among other human rights, the rule of law, the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary, rule of law and democracy in the country.
The amendments, leaked to civil society from a government source earlier this year, would limit the scope of the work that civil society organizations can lawfully undertake, curtail their access to financial support and, in so doing, weaken one of the last lines of defence against his one-man-rule.
The ICJ’s Q&A briefing answers the following questions:
The prolonged and unlawful detention of Selahattin Demirtaş constitutes a serious breach of his human rights and represents a deepening of the rule of law crisis in Turkey. The Turkish authorities should release him from detention, drop the abusive criminal proceedings against him and refrain from weaponising the law to stifle the exercise of free expression in public debate.
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