geert on Sat, 14 Feb 1998 08:26:02 +0100 (MET)


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Syndicate: Human Rights Watch protest


Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 02:36:56 +0000
From: iskoric@igc.apc.org
Subject: HRW protest

-
     Human Rights Watch
     350 Fifth Ave.  34th floor
     NY, NY.  10118
     Telephone: 212-216-1270
     Facsimile: 212-736-1300
     E-mail: Abrahaf@hrw.org
     
     
     OPEN LETTER
     For Release on February 16, 1998
     
     To:Yugoslav President Slobodon Milosevic
                fax 38111-3111668
        Serbian President Milan Milutinovic
                fax 38111-684679
        Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs Zivadin Jovanovic
                fax  38111-681572
        Yugoslav Min. of Transport and Telecommun. Dojcilo Radojevic
                fax 38111-3244414
        Serbian Minister of Information Radmila Milentijevic
                fax 38111-685937
        Yugoslav Secretary for Information Goran Matic
                fax 38111-600446
     
     
                                       February 16, 1998
     Dear Sirs:
     
        Human Rights Watch, the largest U.S.-based human rights 
     organization, condemns your government's ongoing attempts to 
     restrict the independent media in the Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia (FRY).  Your consistent unwillingness to establish a 
     clear and democratic set of laws to regulate the electronic media 
     violates your government's obligations under Serbian, Yugoslav, 
     and international law to guarantee freedom of the press and 
     freedom of expression.  
        The open bid for temporary radio and television frequencies, 
     announced on February 6, only complicates the matter.  Like the 
     laws regulating the electronic media, the legal procedures for 
     the open bid are confusing, inconsistent, and in contradiction 
     with other Serbian and Yugoslav laws.  For example, only 
     companies that are registered with the Ministry of Information 
     and the Commercial Court may submit a bid.  But this requirement 
     contradicts Serbian law since, according to the Law on Radio 
     Television, a company first needs a frequency in order to 
     register with these bodies.  The cost of participating in the 
     bid, the technical conditions required, and the documents needed 
     from other government-run agencies are insurmountable barriers 
     for the private radio and television stations that exist in FRY.
        Human Rights Watch views the most recent open bid as a 
     continuation of the government's policy to deny, through 
     complicated and unduly burdensome legal procedures, frequencies 
     to those radio and television stations that do not conform to the 
     state's narrow definition of "acceptable information."  These 
     stations are  allowed to operate, thereby demonstrating to the 
     international community an apparent respect for free speech.  
     But, as the past has demonstrated, the government may close down 
     a private radio or television station without a licence at any 
     time.  An estimated 300 private radio stations and 100 
     privatetelevision stations in FRY are currently in this 
     precarious position.  In contrast, government-run stations or 
     commercial stations with close ties to the government, like Radio 
     Kosava or BKTV, have consistently obtained licences and are free 
     to broadcast without interference.
        In mid-1997, for example, the government closed seventy-seven 
     independent, opposition-run or commercial television and radio 
     stations on the basis that they were "illegal."  Many of the 
     stations did not posses the proper licenses, in fact because the 
     government consistently refused to grant licenses to stations 
     that broadcast critical views of the state.
     
     Human Rights Watch therefore calls on the FRY government to:
     
     *   To prepare new media laws and regulations, in full 
     consultation with the independent media in Yugoslavia, that 
     guarantee freedom of expression in television and radio.  
     Concrete changes in the Serbian Law on Radio Television, the 
     Serbian Law on Communication Systems, the Serbian Laws on Public 
     Information, the Federal Law on Communication Systems, and the 
     Federal Law on Public Information should guarantee that broadcast 
     licenses are distributed and regulated by an independent body 
     without regard to political considerations.
     
     *   Until a new series of federal and republican laws are 
     introduced, permit all currently licensed, and all unlicensed but 
     currently operating, radio and television stations to broadcast 
     without interference.  No regulation of the airwaves should take 
     place until Yugoslavia has a new set of media laws and 
     regulations that guarantee free expression in accordance with 
     international standards.
     
     *   Consult with the independent media and its organizations, 
     such as the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), 
     on a regular basis about ways to protect and promote the 
     independent media.
     
        Human Rights Watch will continue to monitor the development of 
     FRY's media legislation and its application.  We note that 
     freedom of the media is a fundamental requirement for lifting the 
     outer wall of sanctions currently in place against FRY and 
     reintegrating the country into the international community.
     
                                    Yours,
     
                                    [signed]
     
                                    Holly Cartner
                                    Executive Director
                                    Europe and Central Asia Division
     
     cc: Richard Miles, United States Embassy in Belgrade
         Robert Gelbard, U.S. Special Envoy to the Balkans
         Bronislav Geremek, OSCE Chairman-in-Office
         Robin Cook, E.U. Council of Ministers
         U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the former         
         Yugoslavia
     
     
     HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH BACKGROUND
     The Electronic Media in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
     
        The broadcast media in Serbia is regulated by five laws: the 
     Serbian Law on Radio and Television, the Laws on Connection 
     Systems (Serbian and federal), and the Laws on Public Information 
     (Serbian and federal).  In addition, a number of state bodies are 
     involved in regulation, including the Ministry of Transport and 
     Telecommunications, the Ministry of Information and the 
     commercial courts.  Many of the relevant laws and regulations are 
     contradictory and allow the government to grant or deny licenses 
     to those stations it desires.  For example, under current 
     regulations, the Yugoslav Ministry of Transport and 
     Telecommunications requires applicants for a broadcast license to 
     provide proof that the station has been registered as a public 
     media outlet at the Ministry of Information and at the 
     appropriate commercial court.  But these documents cannot be 
     obtained without first having a license from the Ministry of 
     Transport and Telecommunications.  Even taken individually, 
     Serbia's broadcast laws do not guarantee that licenses will be 
     allocated on a non-discriminatory basis.  Article 5 of Serbia's 
     Law on Radio and Television gives the government a very broad 
     discretional right to grant licenses, while article 10 (6) of the 
     same law allows the government to revoke licenses under vague 
     terms.  Article 7 of the law obliges the government to hold an 
     open auction for frequencies once a year, but the last auction 
     was held in 1994.
     
        As a result, since 1989 independent radio and television 
     stations (like Radio B-92 or Radio Boom 93) have been repeatedly 
     denied a license without an explanation even though they 
     apparently met all of the criteria, while stations that were 
     either blatantly pro-Milosevic or, at least, commercial and 
     wholly uncritical (like RTV Pink or BK TV) easily obtained 
     licenses for large parts of Serbia.  The most extreme example was 
     Radio Kosava, run by Milosevic's daughter, Marija, which obtained 
     a frequency by government decree without even submitting an 
     application.
     
        The independent broadcast media was, therefore, severely 
     limited in its effectiveness, leaving the state controlled 
     television and radio to disseminate government propaganda 
     unchallenged, as in the past.  Many people in Serbia and abroad 
     blame the state media for encouraging the war in former 
     Yugoslavia by distorting facts and promoting xenophobic, extreme 
     nationalist views.
     
        Despite these barriers, Serbia's independent radio and 
     television stations played an important role during the 1996-97 
     demonstrations by disseminating information, often directly from 
     the streets, that offered an alternative to government 
     propaganda.  Unlike during the war, which was never fought inside 
     Serbia, audiences could contrast the state media's coverage with 
     their daily experiences at home.  The daily audience of the 
     larger stations, specifically Radio B-92 and Radio Index in 
     Belgrade, rose to over one million.  Smaller stations throughout 
     Serbia rebroadcast B-92's transmission, thus providing many 
     people in the countryside with an alternative to the state-run 
     media, which was misrepresenting the purpose and scale of the 
     demonstrations.  In acknowledgment of their effectiveness, the 
     government attempted to ban or close a large number of radio 
     stations, including Radio B-92 itself, which responded by sending 
     daily news over the Internet.
     
        Most often, the state justified the closures by claiming that 
     the station in question did not have the proper license to 
     broadcast.  In most cases, this was true, a consequence in large 
     part of the government's persistent refusal to grant such 
     licenses to independent radio or television stations.  Many of 
     the stations that were closed following the November 1996 
     elections, all of them either independent or oppositional, had 
     been operating without interference for the past three or more 
     years, suggesting that they were closed strictly for political 
     reasons.
     
        In May 1997, the Serbian Minister of Information, Radmila 
     Milentijevic, promised that there would be democratic reform in 
     the electronic media and that no private television or radio 
     station would be shut down before the September 21 elections.  
     Despite this, on June 2, the Yugoslav Minister for Transport and 
     Telecommunications, Dojcilo Radojevic, announced the need to 
     "establish order in the broadcast media." All "pirate" radio and 
     television stations, he declared, would be permanently banned if 
     they failed to apply for a temporary broadcast license by June 
     30, 1997.  However, the ministry did not clarify which documents 
     were required to apply for a temporary license or on what 
     criteria applications would be considered.  According to 
     journalists and the Association of Independent Broadcast Media, a 
     local network of independent radio and television stations, the 
     procedure at that time for submitting the application was 
     confusing and contradictory.
     
        Shortly after the June 30 deadline, and in some cases before 
     the deadline, the government initiated a coordinated campaign 
     among the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, the 
     criminal police, the financial police and various government 
     agencies to shut down more than seventy-five radio and television 
     stations across Serbia and confiscate some of their equipment 
     without warning, even though some of the stations had submitted 
     all of the necessary documentation.  All of the closed stations 
     were either independent, run by the opposition or commercial and 
     unconnected to the government.
     
        On February 6, the government announced another open bid for 
     temporary radio and television frequencies, even though it had 
     never replied to the bids submitted in June 1997.  To apply for a 
     bid, stations must meet a number of criteria, such as be 
     registered at the Ministry of Information and Commercial Court, 
     have the proper licences for electronics and construction, and 
     provide an as-yet undisclosed fee.
     
     
     For more information about the media in FRY 
     see the following sources:
     Human Rights Watch report, "Discouraging Democracy: Elections and 
     Human Rights in Serbia", 12/96
     Radio B92 website: http://www.opennet.org
     ANEM website: http://207.10.94.56/anem
     Committee to Protect Journalists website: http://www.cpj.org
     Press Now website: http://www.dds.nl/~pressnow
     MedienHilfe website: http://www.medienhilfe.ch
     Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia website 
     http://www.helsinki.org.yu