Irish draft bill on defamation major improvement, but job unfinished, says OSCE media freedom representative

VIENNA, 29 September 2006 - A legal review presented today to the Irish government by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, acknowledges that the draft bills on defamation and privacy contain major improvements but also highlights the need to completely decriminalize defamation.

"I welcome the planned abolition of all existing criminal libel provisions," said Haraszti. "However, it is worrying that the draft introduces a new crime, namely 'publication of gravely harmful statements', and would even introduce the possibility of a summary conviction for that offence in so-called minor cases."

The report has been prepared for the OSCE by the London-based media freedom advocacy group Article 19.

"The fact that prison sentences are envisaged for the new offences clearly contradicts the guidance of the European Court of Human Rights which has never approved imprisonment sentences for defamation," added Haraszti.

Courts in Western Europe do not apply such provisions anymore, and in May, Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, called on all member states to abolish criminal defamation laws and replace them by appropriate civil-law provisions.

"Full decriminalization would make Ireland a positive example for the OSCE area. No remainders of the old way of thinking should be left in place, which could then elsewhere be used to justify laws oppressive to free media," Haraszti said.

Referring to the planned establishment of a press council by the same law, he added: "I welcome that the draft recognizes the need for self-regulatory bodies for media ethics. However, I believe they should remain fully civil-society institutions without the need for legislation."

The Office of the Representative has campaigned for several years in OSCE participating States to decriminalize defamation and libel. The Office also promotes media self-regulation in the OSCE region.