2010-03-04

Little time left to lobby against restrictive decree on Internet

A decree that opens up for restrictive control of the Internet was signed by the Belarusian president Alexandr Lukashenka on February 1. Local and international organizations that work for freedom of expression and human rights have expressed their deep concern about the presidential decree and the backlash in general regarding conditions for independent media in Belarus. (Read more about the content of the decree on Internet in previous article.)

The law will come into force July 1 2010. Prior to that, the Belarusian government are to give their reading of the decree. Andrej Aljeksadrau, deputy chairperson of Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), underlines that there is still time to try to influence the actual development of the law.

- On May 1 a governmental decree will be issued with the details for implementation of the law. We will be working hard during the two coming months to try to influence the process and the governmental structures involved.

At the present moment OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is gathering comments from different actors and the conclusions will be presented at round tables seminars during the spring.

- We will invite government representatives to round table meetings to discuss the decree. Such a strategy actually worked once before when an expected decree on internet regulation was withdrawn, much thanks to the involvement of OSCE, explains Andrej Aljeksadrau.

* Andrej Aljeksadrau visited Stockholm on February 24 to participate in a seminar about press freedom and freedom of expression during the Days of Belarus arranged by Forum Syd.