GENEVA: The United Nations has warned that a new media regulation law in the Maldives will seriously undermine freedom of expression.
UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged Maldivian authorities to repeal the legislation, which President Mohamed Muizzu ratified last week.
The Media and Broadcasting Regulations Law establishes a regulatory commission with sweeping powers to suspend media outlets and block newspaper websites during investigations.
Shamdasani stated that the law “will seriously undermine media freedom and the right to freedom of expression for the people of the Maldives if not withdrawn”.
She pointed out that it “introduces rules incompatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Maldives is a State party”.
The UN spokeswoman decried the law’s “overly broad content restrictions on the media, as well as on journalists and media workers”.
Shamdasani cautioned that the law “grants the new Media and Broadcasting Commission intrusive powers to conduct investigations, impose fines on media workers, and revoke and cancel licenses and permits of media outlets”.
The commission can impose fines of up to 25,000 rufiyaa (USD 1,625) for journalists and up to 100,000 rufiyaa (USD 6,500) for media outlets.
It will also have the power to revoke media licences and initiate punitive proceedings against editorial offices.
Alarmingly, the commission can retroactively sanction content published up to one year before the rules come into force.
The Maldivian foreign ministry defended the legislation, stating it aims to strengthen public confidence in media and address misinformation.
Shamdasani highlighted that the law followed “a worrying erosion of institutional checks and balances in the past year”.
She insisted that “an independent, free, plural and diverse media is a core component of the right to freedom of expression and a cornerstone of democratic society”.
Shamdasani said UN rights chief Volker Turk was appealing to Maldivian authorities “to repeal the legislation”.
Turk “offers the Office’s assistance to the Maldives in ensuring any media reforms comply with its international human rights obligations”, she added. – AFP
