SECTOR 1 opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Namibia acceded to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 1992 and is thus bound by its provisions. Its Article 9 on freedom of expression states that every individual shall have the right to receive information and the right to express and disseminate his opinions within the law. In 2002, the African Commission adopted the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa to provide a detailed interpretation for member states of the AU of the rights to freedom of expression outlined in the African Charter. The Declaration defines freedom of expression and information as a “fundamental and inalienable human right and an indispensable component of democracy”. The Declaration also details how such freedom of expression should be realised. Government-controlled broadcasters should be transformed into editorially independent public service broadcasters, accountable to the public through the legislature rather than the government, and the media should be professionally guided through self-regulatory, and not government-imposed, media bodies. The Namibian Parliament ratified the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport in 2002 and has thus formally agreed to its provisions, although it will only become legally binding once it has been ratified by the required minimum nine member states. Among others, the Protocol encourages governments to cooperate and collaborate in the promotion, establishment and growth of independent media, as well as free flow of information. Article 20 enjoins member states to take “necessary measures to ensure the freedom and independence of the media”, with “independence of the media” being defined as “editorial independence, whereby editorial Policy and decisions are made by the media without interference”. These documents are not widely known in Namibia and are only publicly referred to during lobbying by the Namibia chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Recommendations made in an audit on ‘Media and Communications Legislation in the Republic of Namibia’, commissioned by the then Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in March 2005 and facilitated by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), were determined by using the above international documents benchmarks. However, most of these recommendations have still not been taken up by government. 16 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2009