• INCIDENTS
    • Nigeria
      • South West
      • South South
      • South East
      • North Central
      • North East
      • North West
    • West Africa
      • Senegal
      • Benin Republic
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Cote d’Ivoire
      • Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea-Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger Republic
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • NEWS
    • Defending the Civic Space – Blog
    • AML – CFT NEWS
    • Foreign News
    • Local News
    • Videos
  • RESOURCES
    • Policy briefs
    • Restrictive legislations
    • Press statements
    • INFOGRAPHICS
    • Publications
    • Newsletters
  • ACTION GROUP
    • Join
    • Steering Committee
    • Members
    • Group Activities
    • Member Activities
  • SPECIAL CAUSES
    • COVID-19
      • General News
      • Incidents
      • Eyewitness Reports
    • #ENDSARS
      • General News
      • Missing Persons
      • Gallery
      • Trends & Hashtags
  • CSR-HUB
    • Blog
    • Upcoming Events
Menu
  • INCIDENTS
    • Nigeria
      • South West
      • South South
      • South East
      • North Central
      • North East
      • North West
    • West Africa
      • Senegal
      • Benin Republic
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Cote d’Ivoire
      • Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea-Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger Republic
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • NEWS
    • Defending the Civic Space – Blog
    • AML – CFT NEWS
    • Foreign News
    • Local News
    • Videos
  • RESOURCES
    • Policy briefs
    • Restrictive legislations
    • Press statements
    • INFOGRAPHICS
    • Publications
    • Newsletters
  • ACTION GROUP
    • Join
    • Steering Committee
    • Members
    • Group Activities
    • Member Activities
  • SPECIAL CAUSES
    • COVID-19
      • General News
      • Incidents
      • Eyewitness Reports
    • #ENDSARS
      • General News
      • Missing Persons
      • Gallery
      • Trends & Hashtags
  • CSR-HUB
    • Blog
    • Upcoming Events

Malian authorities’ Suspend Media Outlets France 24 and Radio France International (RFI) on Alleged Publication of ‘false’ information.

  • Date of Occurrence
    March 16, 2022
  • Details
  • Comments 0
  • prev
  • next
  • Bookmark
  • Share
  • Report
  • Leave a review
  • prev
  • next
Image
Description

On 16 March 2022, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization announced that it had initiated the suspension of the two outlets, which are headquartered in France. According to the Minister’s statement, the procedure followed the publication of what he alleged to be false news regarding abuses and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law carried out by the Malian armed forces, Forces Atmées Malinennes (FAMa). In the statement, the Minister specifically referred to a report by Human Rights Watch claiming that at least 107 civilians had been killed by the Malian army and armed Islamist groups in central and southwestern Mali since December 2021. 

Although national law requires such a suspension to be carried out by the High Authority for Communication and only after deliberation by the College of Members, the suspension came into effect the next day, on the afternoon of 17 March. Both RFI’s FM broadcasts and France 24 television broadcasts across Mali were interrupted. Neither RFI nor France 24 was given an opportunity to defend themselves, or to examine and to respond to the alleged evidence against them as required by both national and international law. 

In addition to the suspension, the authorities instituted a prohibition against national radio and television stations rebroadcasting or publishing programmes or press articles produced by the two media outlets. 

ARTICLE 19 underlines that the alleged falsity of information is not a legitimate ground for restrictions of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. An important point of principle remains that ‘the human right to impart information is not limited to “correct statements”,[and] that the right also protects information and ideas that may shock, offend or disturb’. The four special mandates on freedom of expression have made clear that ‘general prohibitions on the dissemination of information based on vague and ambiguous ideas, including “false news”, are incompatible with international standards for restrictions on freedom of expression.’ Additionally, any regulation of the broadcasting sector should be done by an independent professional regulatory authority in accordance with international standards.

Details
  • Date of Occurrence
    2022-03-16
  • Perpetrator
    Malian authorities
  • Source
    https://www.article19.org/resources/mali-suspension-of-french-media-outlets-threatens-freedom-of-expression/
Region
  • Mali
Rights & Freedom Violated
  • Press Freedom
Mode of Attacks
  • Ban, Sanctions and Fines
  • Comments are closed.
  • You May Also Be Interested In

    Mali: Media Regulator Suspends TV Channel for Criticizing Transitional Government

      Nov03
      • Freedom of Expression
      • +1

      Mali’s Presidential Guard Assault Journalist on Duty

      • Ségou Region
      Apr25
      • Press Freedom

      Police Assaults Journalists On Duty

      • Mali
      Apr13
      • Press Freedom

      This site is supported by:

      FGHR-150x50
      OSF-150x50
      fh
      ford-foundation-logo-150x50

      Closing Civic Spaces is a publicly-available database on closing spaces for civic engagement and civil society in Nigeria & West Africa. Data  is compiled from public sources.

      • +234-814-500-0067
      • Lagos, Nigeria

      Stay informed

      Get incidents as they happen

      Support our campaign to protect the civil society space

      Donate Now
      Donate to Defend the Civil Society Space

      © 2019 Closing Civic Spaces by Spaces for Change. Spaces for Change is a member of the Global NPO Coalition on FATF.

      Images, texts, & other forms of content are copyright of their respective owners.

      Cart

      • Facebook
      • Twitter
      • WhatsApp
      • Telegram
      • Pinterest
      • LinkedIn
      • Tumblr
      • VKontakte
      • Mail
      • Copy link