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FMM commends Govt for repeal of defamation law

The Free Media Movement (FMM) has congratulated the government and the Parliament which unanimously passed an act of Parliament on June 18, 2002 repealing criminal defamation laws from the statute books.

The FMM said: "This is the first major legislation in over two decades to strengthen freedom of expression in Sri Lanka. The FMM has been campaigning for nearly a decade for this repressive legislation introduced during the British Colonial rule to be abolished.

"The campaign was later supported by both the Editor's Guild and the Publishers Association. International organisations such as the Commonwealth Press Union, The World Association of Newspapers, the International Press Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Article 19 have strongly supported the campaign by the three Sri Lankan media organisations to repeals laws constraining freedom of expression and establishing a legal and institutional frame work that guarantees freedom of expression in a democratic environment.

"Successive Governments since the 1970s have used this law to harass newspaper editors and has imposed serious constrains on the media.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in January the government and representatives of the three media organisations, The FMM, the Editors Guild and the Publishers Association reached an agreement on a wide ranging reform package to strengthen freedom of expression in the country.

"These include the abolishing of laws that curtail freedom of expression, introducing a right to information act, replacing the Press Council with an independent Press Complaints Commission and the setting up of an independent media training institute. Most of the details of setting up the institutions have been finalised in subsequent meeting with the Secretary to the Prime Minister and Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Communication.

"The FMM hopes that the government would implement the rest of the reform package without delay as well. 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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