"The Taliban have revoked and suspended laws that included the right to access information and freedom of expression, and currently there is no effective legal mechanism to protect media outlets and journalists against interference and intimidation. This has led to widespread violation of the right
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to freedom of expression and access to information and has eliminated the ability of citizens to participate in government decision-making that impacts their lives. The findings of this report indicate that the Taliban, with complete disregard to Afghanistan’s international human rights commitments and the country’s pre-Taliban laws, have engaged in suppressing freedom of expression and media using various tools and methods, particularly imposing unlawful and discriminatory restrictions on women journalists. Currently, only a few women journalists are working with the media, conditional upon fully complying with the conditions set by the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of vice (MPVPV). In addition to this, the Taliban have engaged in persistent harassment and intimidation of media, arbitrary detention and torture of journalists, the detention and killing of protesters and imposing extensive restrictions on the activities of libraries, bookstores, and publishers. The provincial departments of MPVPV, Ministry of Information & Culture (MoIC), General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), and Police Directorates are among the key institutions involved in suppression of freedom of expression and access to information. The Taliban have also dismantled accountability mechanisms such as independent judiciary, independent anti-corruption bodies and prevent media’s access to information on national budget expenditure, thus leading to administrative and financial corruption." (Introduction)
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"Through the design, development and delivery of curricula and the training program in Afghanistan on the subject of media law, the hope is to empower Afghan lawyers to serve as a critical resource to journalists, media managers, and local government officials. Through the trainings, participants ch
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osen from various parts of Afghanistan will work with best practices and national and international media standards and principles. An Afghan-centric approach—necessary for strengthening national media and legal capacity—will be employed in addition to a comparative international approach. Topics included are Afghanistan’s media law; freedom of information; slander; defamation; libel; invasion of privacy; blasphemy; the interplay between Islam/religion and media law; and the interplay between Afghanistan’s constitutional law, criminal law and media law. Another element of the enabling environment is good management. Our hope is that this manual and the training program will contribute to improved media management by covering such subjects as transparency; improving legal protection for journalists; anti-trust rules; copyright law; contract law; licensing; trademarks; advertising; and intellectual property issues. In the area of telecommunications law, the project addresses topics such as the current state of Afghanistan’s telecom law; communication regulation and legislation; regulatory structures and regulatory models for communication; network interconnection and access; licensing; spectrum management; interconnection; access to networks, particularly in rural and underserved areas; improved business-friendly government regulation of the airwaves and licensing procedures; the regulatory regime for content delivered via SMS/IVR; the legal-regulatory framework for the Internet sector and for social media; electronic commerce; data protection and cyber-crime." (Foreward, pages ii-iii)
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"On 5 September 2002, an International Seminar bringing together representatives of the Afghan government, local civil society and the international community adopted a Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic Media in Afghanistan (‘the Declaration’). This Declaration, together wi
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th the Policy Directions on Reconstruction and Development of Media in Afghanistan issued by the Minister for Information and Culture on 6 June (‘the Policy Directions’), constitutes the basic framework for the development of media policy in Afghanistan. Both the Policy Directions and the Declaration are firmly rooted in international law and standards. This Explanatory Memorandum seeks to elaborate the international and comparative law basis for the Declaration, particularly relating to the guarantee of freedom of expression. It draws on international law, as elaborated in the decisions of international courts and authoritative international statements, as well as leading national court decisions interpreting constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression. It is intended to contribute towards implementation of the Policy Directions and Declaration. Where possible, specific suggestions are made for the practical implementation of individual action points mentioned in the Declaration. This memorandum first discusses the importance of freedom of expression in a democratic society, with particular emphasis on the special role of the media. It then provides a commentary on those issues addressed in the Declaration which are of a legal or regulatory nature, including public service broadcasting and the promotion of an independent and pluralistic media." (Introduction)
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