NATIONAL: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND RIGHT TO INFORMATION Regional Programme Goal Establishment of a region where freedom of expression and the Right to Information are accepted as human rights Regional Programme Establishment of a region where freedom of expression and media freedom is practiced and guaranteed Objectives PERFORMANCE INDICATORS NATIONAL OBJECTIVE MAJOR ACTIVITIES REMARK/COMMENTS (ACTUAL/ACHIEVED) 1.1 Meet with partners in order to strategise around insult laws campaign. 1.2 Lobby relevant government departments to raise awareness around insult laws. • Meetings with partners and stakeholders have been convened to plan around the insult laws campaign. • The working committee has met with several heads of state to discuss the insult laws campaign. It has sometimes been difficult to initialise the insult laws campaign as South Africa is not directly affected by insult laws. The regional and international campaign has been successful in raising awareness around the existence and use of insult laws, and in some cases journalists have been released due to mounting international pressure. Although the broader campaign is successful it is difficult to assess its impact in terms of South African context 2. Campaign against Anti-Terrorism Bill 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 • Collaboration with part ners took place • Public meetings and workshops were held. • Alerts produced. Due to time-constraints, MISA -SA did not make a submission to the Parliamentary Portfolio on Safety and Security but gave opinion and raised awareness on the issues. Swaziland 1.1 Study analyzing how the draft constitution impacts on freedom of expression/media freedom. 1.2 Hold a workshop on dissemination on findings of the study. • Delivered papers addressing impact of Draft Constitution on Freedom of Expression, Media Freedom and Gender issues, the challenges of integrating Swazi Custom with Roman Dutch Law; tensions of the dual systems in Swaziland, independence judiciary. • Findings handed to CDC. • Two (2) workshops held on 24th – 25th October 2003. The study was necessitated by the fact that a majority of stakeholders analyzed the draft constitution in their areas of interest. MISA also initiated the study of media related issues, to ensure that media issues are comprehensively covered. There was gender representation at the workshop with 43% being women. South Africa 1. To support the regional insult laws campaign, under regional programme objective: repeal laws that obst ruct media freedom 1. Lobby for the Constitution of Swaziland to include provisions for an enabling environment for media freedom and freedom of expression Lobbying parliament. Collaboration with partners. Public meetings and workshops. Production of newspaper articles and alerts. MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004) 30