Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 28 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, voiced concern today about Internet regulation policies proposed by several participating States and reminded them of their OSCE media freedom commitments, organization reports on Wednesday.
"Such initiatives endanger freedom of expression and risk erecting 'mind
walls' - barriers to the flow of information and ideas," Mijatović said.
She cited in particular an initiative by Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,
among others, to introduce an "international code of conduct for
information security", a proposal they would like to see adopted as a
United Nations resolution.
"Especially worrying is the draft code requesting States to curb 'the
dissemination of information that incites terrorism, secessionism or
extremism or that undermines other countries' political, economic and
social stability, as well as their spiritual and cultural environment,'"
Mijatović said.
Mijatović also noted with concern that already in August the presidents of
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, citing
security reasons, agreed to develop a common strategy to regulate and control
the Internet, particularly social networks, on a regional level. In addition,
the prosecutor-generals of several of these countries called for government
control over social networks at a meeting in Minsk on 14 September.
"Such proposals risk fragmenting the Internet, thus cutting off the users
of those countries from access to the global information society and thereby
interrupting the free flow of information," Mijatović warned.
"Free Internet, including social networks, blogs and online news media,
leads to more transparency and political accountability worldwide - and
this must be preserved."
