Anti Pornography Act 2014?
Its official, the Anti Pornography bill was finally consented to and is now the Anti Pornography Act 2014. It has been a long time coming.
From the time this bill was made public knowledge, our local media decided either intentionally or out of ignorance to brand it the ‘Mini-Skirt Bill”. Just like many others, I was fully convinced…
Law requiring registration of SIM cards in Uganda a threat to privacy
(HRNJ-Uganda/IFEX) – 21 September 2012 – The Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) calls upon the Ugandan government to immediately halt the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, due to the lack of a necessary law to protect the data collected. The process is a curtailment of freedom…
The Uganda Communication Commission has suspended two poplar political talk shows on Hits FM, a local radio station in Fort Portal.
Orukurato and Ekitanganzo have been airing on Hits FM since February last year. The panel on both talk shows includes district and municipal council leaders, MPs, human rights activists and civil society activists.
The shows have been focusing on accountability of…
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill – a great blow to internet freedom
One month after Nigeria’s president signed into law a harsh law criminalising sexual minorities, Uganda has followed suit by signing it’s own “anti-gay”, as dubbed by the media, bill. Joining Tanzania, Mauritania, Sudan and Sierra Leone, Uganda and Nigeria have join the club of countries in the continent where the LGBT…
On Tuesday 12 February 2013, the Parliamentary committee dealing with the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill (the so-called “Spy Bill”) starts work again, aiming to adopt the Bill by 20 March 2013. The Right2Know Campaign remains opposed to the provisions of the Bill and will continue to monitor its progress through Parliament.
Why does R2K oppose the “SpyBill”?
We believe the GILAB,…
Jacob Zuma has added The Star to his latest round of defamation actions against newspapers.
The ANC president has issued a summons against Independent Newspapers for R1-million for alleged invasion of his dignity in an article published by The Star in 2005 – just making the prescription period by a few days, as plaintiffs have only three years to sue for…
What do OR Tambo International Airport, President Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla, and the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station have in common?
They have all been declared ‘National Key Points’ in terms of the National Key Points Act (NKPA), an obscure piece of apartheid-era law still on South Africa’s statute books. Introduced in 1980 as a response to ‘sabotage’ in Umtata, the law…
Ethiopia Files Charges Against a Group of Bloggers, Journalists Detained Over the Weekend
• Charges were brought against a group of bloggers writing for Zone9 and three journalists detained by security forces on Friday April 25th and Saturday April 26th.
Friends of the detainees were told this morning at the Ma’ekelawi, the central investigation office where the detainees were are kept since…
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – U.S. funded-broadcaster Voice of America said on Monday that Ethiopia may have blocked its website in a move which may lead to further U.S. criticism of its closest ally in the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia holds national elections on May 23 and international press freedom advocacy groups say the government is intimidating and harassing journalists ahead of…
Just when US Secretary of State John Kerry visits Ethiopia, six of the nation’s leading bloggers have been arrested.
On Friday afternoon at 17:00 Addis Ababa time, the mobile phones and inboxes of nine Ethiopian bloggers began to beep and vibrate with frantic messages. One of the members of social media activist group Zone 9 had been arrested – and others…