OSCE Calls For Improvement Of Kazakh Law

Miklos Haraszti (file photo) (Courtesy Photo)

PRAGUE, 27 September 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative on
freedom of the media says he has urged Kazakh authorities to improve
their recently amended media law.

In a statement released in Vienna today, Miklos Haraszti says the recommendation is contained in a report he presented to Kazakh officials. He says the report was prepared for the OSCE by Article 19, a London-based media-freedom advocacy group.

Kazakh legislators earlier this year approved government-sponsored amendments to the existing media law that Haraszti says, "could impede independent journalism."

The changes oblige Kazakh media outlets to re-register. They also bar editors of publications which have been closed down by courts to exercise their professional duties at the same level for other media outlets.

Haraszti says compliance with his recommendations "would further improve [Kazakhstan's] stand as a democracy with a free media."