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"The right of political parties and candidates to have access to government media receives powerful support form the strong prohibition of discrimination, including on grounds of political opinion, under international law. Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the [ICCPR] declares that governments are obliged both to refrain from discrimination concerning matters that would affect the enjoyment of fundamental rights: 'Each state party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within this territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.' Other human rights treaties impose similar obligations. Thus, if a government-controlled media outlet provides air time to the ruling party, either by way of time for direct statements or by way of news coverage, then it is obliged to devote equitable amounts of time to competing political parties on a non-discriminatory basis (emphasis added)."
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