An international press freedom watchdog organisation has appealed to governments worldwide to revoke any legal restrictions aimed at controlling the practice of journalism and the distribution of information on the Internet.

Members of the [#1]International Press Institute[/#] (IPI), meeting in New Delhi, India, for the IPI World Congress and 50th General Assembly, expressed concern at governments imposing legal restrictions aimed at controlling the practice of journalism and obstructing the principle of the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers", as provided for by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In one of its resolutions adopted at the three-day assembly which ended yesterday, the IPI also noted that there were increasing restrictions on public access to and distribution of information on the Internet.

"Control is maintained through direct censorship of information on government-controlled servers and by holding Internet service providers legally responsible for information posted on their servers by others.

"Individuals using the Internet have been imprisoned, websites shut down and pressure placed on Internet service providers to censor content," said the resolution.

The IPI also expressed concern at the manner in which inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) have ignored violations against freedom of opinion and expression in their member states.

"Many of these organisations have charters, constitutions or covenants which uphold press freedom. Yet they have failed to censure members who have breached this fundamental principle," IPI said.

It called on several organisations, including the United Nations, Unesco, Asean, and the Council of Europe to firmly uphold the spirit and letter of press freedom by publicly criticising member states who violated this principle.

The IPI, which was founded in New York in 1950, represents the collective voice of the print and electronic media around the world, with membership reported at about 2,000 from100 countries.

Testing ground

Yesterday, the organisation awarded its Free Media Pioneer Award for the year 2001 to Malaysiakini.com.

The annual award was established by IPI in 1996 to honour individuals or organisations who have fought against great odds to ensure freer and more independent media in their country.

It is co-sponsored by the US-based Freedom Forum, a non-partisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.

IPI chairman Hugo Buetler, speaking at the award ceremony, said that malaysiakini was using the Internet as a testing ground for publishing stories of public concern.

"So far, the Malaysian government with an eye on the economic benefits of information age has refrained from censoring the new technology (medium) and we hope that this will go on," he said.

On receiving the award, malaysiakini co-founder and editor-in-chief Steven Gan said that the government in Malaysia had a complete monopoly on the media until the emergence of the Internet.

"Malaysia is a liberal democracy. We have freedom of speech. But no freedom after speech. We have freedom of movement. But no freedom of assembly.

"In a sense, we are definitely much luckier than a number of other Asian countries such as Burma and China," Gan said.

The congress was attended by more than 400 editors, publishers, broadcasting executives and leading journalists from 51 countries.

Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen and the Dalai Lama delivered keynote addresses at its closing ceremony.