Below are the opening paragraphs and link to the full text of a conference paper I delivered in Hong Kong, in 2007:
I.
Practice across the region
"The aim of the current three day
training course organised by Hong Kong University is therefore to strengthen
media freedom in South-East Asia by building and strengthening national and
regional capacity for media defence litigation, which has been identified as a
key means to promote a free media in many countries. Lawyers from each of the
six countries concerned will be brought together to discuss international and
regional law and practice on freedom of expression, and to identify ways of
bringing progressive international legal arguments in a domestic setting.
This paper seeks to provide an
overview of the main legal trends and challenges to freedom of expression in
the six countries surveyed. It also discusses the status in the region of
international human rights law and the options for lawyers wishing to bring
international and comparative law arguments in a domestic setting, and
concludes with some suggestions as to the way forward.
I.
Practice across the region
Practice in the region shows that defamation is the chief challenge to
freedom of expression. However, numerous other laws are also in active use to
restrict media freedom beyond the level that is accepted under international human rights law. The
following paragraphs provide a bird's eye view of freedom of expression law and
practice in the region.
For full text click here.
