His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza

President of Burundi

Bujumbura, Burundi

23 April 2013

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at the adoption of a new media law by the National Assembly that threatens to curtail freedom of expression and independent journalism.

According to reports, on 3 April the National Assembly adopted amendments to the 2003 Press Law that, if passed into law by the Senate and confirmed by you, will place severe restrictions on independent reporting. These restrictions include a provision (Article 16) that would force journalists to reveal their sources when covering issues such as national security and public order, and another (Article 18) that would ban publications deemed to be detrimental to national security, morality and the economy.

The amendments also provide for the suspension of the right to publish information on national security, the economy, the honour of the head of state and other widely defined terms if it would be ‘in the public interest’ (Article 19), and introduce prison terms of up to five years for journalists who offend national security.

We respectfully remind you that Burundi is a signatory to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which gives its citizens the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We also remind you that in October 2012, the Pan African Parliament unanimously passed the resolution 'Press Freedom for Development and Governance: Need for Reform', which set out a wide range of measures to ensure greater respect for press freedom on the continent and encouraged African Union heads of state to sign the Declaration of Table Mountain.

In line with the PAP resolution, we respectfully call on you to reject the restrictive amendments should they be passed by the Senate and to sign the Declaration of Table Mountain at the earliest opportunity. We urge you to reaffirm your government’s commitment to press freedom and to take all necessary steps to ensure that Burundi fully respects its international obligations to freedom of expression

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Jacob Mathew  
President  
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers  

Erik Bjerager  
President  
World Editors Forum  

WAN-IFRA is the global organisation for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organisation groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.

cc: Faith Pansy Tlakula

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