Journalism, civil liberties and the war on terrorism

A report on the impact of the war on terrorism on civil liberties should set alarm bells ringing around the world of journalism, says the International Federation of Journalists today.The IFJ, the world’s largest journalists’ group has chosen World Press Freedom Day 2005 to launch its 60-page assessment of how civil liberties and free expression are being sacrificed by democratic states in the name of security. “The response by governments to the threat of terrorism is out of all proportion,” says the report. “The war on terrorism amounts to a devastating challenge to the global culture of human rights and civil liberties established almost 60 years ago.”The report, produced jointly by the IFJ and the civil liberties group Statewatch, includes an analysis of current policy developments as well as a survey of some 20 selected countries, concludes that around half of the minimum standards set out in the Universal Declaration of on Human Rights are being undermined by the war on terrorism.

http://www.ifj.org/assets/docs/217/000/e70ecd9-6e77800.pdf