Defamation and 'Insult' Campaign 2006-08

Acting in defence of nearly a hundred writers and journalists around the world who are in prison or facing custodial sentences for alleged defamation or "insult", this campaign calls for the repeal of laws that treat defamation as a criminal, rather than a civil, offence, and argues that the term "insult" is too vague to have any legal standing as a charge and should thus be scrapped from penal codes entirely.  

*******UPDATES*******

Between January and May 2007, there were several important developments in defamation legislation around the world. In April 2007, Mexican President Calderón signed legislation decriminalising defamation, libel and slander at the federal level. Unfortunately, they remain criminal offenses at the state level, punishable by prison sentences of up to four years.

PEN was disappointed by reports that the Kyrgyzstan government, who in April 2007 were reportedly considering proposals to decriminalise defamation, decided not to remove Article 127 on defamation and Article 128 on insult from the Criminal Code. Attempts to decriminalise defamation were also blocked in Romania in January 2007. The Romanian Constitutional Court struck down a new law which would decriminalise insult and libel because it considered it to be unconstitutional.

Defamation and insult laws continue to be of grave concern in Eastern Europe and Africa. Increasing numbers of sentences have been brought against dissident writers in Azerbaijan, Rwanda, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. PEN has also received reports of four further criminal defamation trials opened against journalists in Ethiopia, Malawi, Sudan and Sierra Leone in February 2008. None are currently detained but all could be sentenced to prison terms.

See International PEN's report on insult and defamation laws around the world here

See English PEN's December 2006 Press Release on Turkey's Article 301 here

See International PEN's 2007 report on insult and defamation in Egypt here 

See International PEN's 2007 report on insult and defamation laws and cases in Mexico, and particularly the case of Lydia Cacho, at the bottom of the page here

See International PEN's November 2007 report on insult and defamation laws remaining on the books in the EU here

See International PEN's March 2008 report on free expression, corruption and criminal defamation in Africa here