OSCE Office urges Tajikistan to decriminalize defamation and libel laws

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, 9 October 2008 - The OSCE Office in Tajikistan co-organized a meeting starting today that called for the decriminalization and libel.

During the meeting, more than 80 participants from the government, parliament, civil society and the media discussed how media freedom is affected by Tajikistan's defamation and libel legislation. The country's penal code states that the offences are punishable by up to two years forced labour.

"The OSCE Office strongly supports every move toward the decriminalization of libel and slandering in the media. This work should be combined with the efficient promotion of professional ethics and civil responsibility among journalists," said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, head of the OSCE Office.

The Office organized the meeting together with the United Nations Democracy Fund, the Tajik non-governmental organization Khoma and Internews Network.

Zafir Alizoda, State Adviser to the President on Legal Policies, added: "That this question is discussed here is both important and a positive sign for the development of democracy in Tajikistan."

Speakers at the two-day meeting include experts from Ukraine and Moldova, countries that have decriminalized libel and defamation from the criminal code as well as from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, where changes to criminal defamation and libel legislation are being discussed.

In 2004, the OSCE held a Central Asian Media Conference in Dushanbe on the same subject. That meeting resulted in a declaration that called for criminal libel and defamation laws to be replaced by appropriate and narrowly defined civil defamation laws.