633 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "SADC Member States shall adhere to the following principles in the conduct of democratic elections: Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media"
- "Fair media access implies not only equality of time and space allotted, but also attention to the hour of broadcasting (i.e. prime-time versus late broadcasting) and the placement of printed advertisements (i.e. front page versus back page). Fair media use implies responsibility on the part of all persons or parties delivering messages or imparting information via the mass media (i.e. truthfulness, professionalism and abstaining from false promises or building of false expectations)."
- "Political parties and candidates have the right of access to the state/publicly owned media, particularly the broadcast media, during the election campaign."
- "Depending on the subject matter, equality may be strict or proportional. If it is strict, political parties are treated on an equal footing irrespective of their current parliamentary strength or support among the electorate. If it is proportional, political parties must be treated according to the results achieved in the elections. Equality of opportunity applies in particular to radio and television air-time, public funds, and other forms of backing."
- "Fair media access implies not only equality of time and space allotted, but also attention to the hour of broadcasting (i.e. prime-time versus late broadcasting) and the placement of printed advertisements (i.e. front page versus back page)."
- "Print media outlets owned by public authorities...If such media outlets accept paid advertising in their publications, the should ensure that all political contenders and parties that request the purchase of advertising space are treated in an equal and non-discriminatory manner."
- "In the area of paid political advertising there should also be a guarantee of access and equal treatment. An inequality is created in the area of paid political advertising if the legal framework fails to ensure that the same commercial rate for such ads be offered to all political parties and candidates, and that the times and location of the advertising be on similar terms. Alternatively, and where not contradicting other laws, the legal framework could prohibit all paid political advertising. If paid political advertising is permitted, then it should be offered at the same commercial rate for such advertising and under similar conditions to all political parties and candidates in order to ensure access and equal treatment. Moreover, paid political advertising should be identified as such and should not be disguised as news or editorial coverage."
- "In member States where political parties and candidates are permitted to buy advertising space for electoral purposes, regulatory frameworks should ensure that: the possibility of buying advertising space should be available to all contending parties, and on equal conditions and rates of payment; the public is aware that the message is paid political advertisement."
- "If media accept paid political advertising, regulatory or self-regulatory frameworks should ensure that such advertising is readily recognizable as such."
- "If political advertising is allowed, private media should charge the same rates to all parties and candidates without any discrimination. Some jurisdictions ban political advertising altogether; in other jurisdictions such a ban has been interpreted as an unjustified breach of the right of free speech and expression. Nevertheless, paid political advertising should always be identified as such and should not be disguised as news or editorial coverage."
- "If paid political advertising is permitted in the public or private media, then the costs and conditions should be reasonable and should be equally applied to all candidates."
- "With these broad principles in mind, the Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize that in pre-election periods…(d)There is a clear distinction between news and press conferences related to functions of office and activities by members of the governments, particularly if the member concerned is seeking election."
- "Where self-regulation does not provide for this, member States should adopt measures whereby public and private broadcasters, during the election period, should in particular be fair balanced and impartial in their news and current affairs programmers, including discussion programmes such as interviews or debates. No privileged treatment should be given by broadcasters to public authorities during such programmes."
- "[W]hile the incumbent will get media coverage concerning state affairs, campaign events should not be confused with issues of state."
- "The standard of equitable treatment and access to the media are undermined if state-owned or controlled media are able to favour a political party or candidate in supposed news coverage, political coverage, forums or editorials. Biased coverage or preferential treatment in State media should be prohibited by law, with penalties or corrective mechanisms defined."
- "As the purpose of talk shows and current-affairs programmes is to provide viewers and listeners with insight and knowledge of current issues, they will not necessarily provide a balanced view within a single programme, but they should do so over a series."
- "While the incumbents may get media coverage concerning their official duties, this should not be misused as a means to give them an unfair advantage, and campaign events should not be confused with the issues of State."
- "The standard of equal treatment and access to media is undermined if state owned or controlled media is able to favor a political party or candidate in news coverage, political coverage, forums, or editorials. Biased coverage or treatment in state media should be prohibited and authorities should be required to immediately act upon any violation."
- "Member States may examine the advisability of including in their regulatory frameworks provisions whereby free airtime is made available to political parties/candidates on public broadcasting services in electoral time. Wherever such airtime is granted, this should be done in a fair and non-discriminatory manner, on the basis of transparent and objective criteria."
- "It is a good practice for the public media, at least, to provide free airtime or print space to the candidates or parties."
- "One practice that can ensure this standard is to require provision to political parties of the right to free time on public radio and television on a permanent basis, and not only during electoral periods. A legal framework that provides that all political parties are guaranteed an established number of minutes of broadcasting per month can ensure this practice. Ideally, during electoral campaigns, political parties and candidates would be allocated additional free time in order for them to disseminate information about their candidatures. Free broadcasting time or free newspaper space during election periods should be allotted under an established formula that can be applied objectively. Objective application is ensured if the law specifies the percentage to be distributed to political parties and candidates on a n equal basis, regardless of parliamentary strength. It is also recommended that the amount of broadcast time distributed on an equal basis be sufficient to enable all political parties and candidates to complete effectively in the elections."
- "The international standards and case-law make clear that governments have a negative obligation not to interfere with the imparting of information by the media or by willing speakers. While none of the international tribunals has directly examined the positive obligation of a government during a campaign period to broadcast views of political candidates on government-controlled channels, international norms discernible from a range of state practice confirm that this obligation is indeed widely-recognized."
- "The legal framework should ensure equitable access for political parties and candidates on state-owned radio and television during the election campaign period by providing that all parties are guaranteed a certain amount of broadcasting time according to a defined formula. For example, 50 percent of the time could be allocated equally among all parties with the remaining 50 percent differentially allocated on the basis of the number of votes obtained by a party in the last election or in proportion to its seats in the previous legislature."
- "Freedom of expression imposes an obligation on the authorities to take positive measures to promote diversity, which include among other things-: pluralistic access to the media and other means of communication, including by vulnerable or marginalised groups, such as women, children and refugees, as well as linguistic and cultural groups."
- "Community broadcasting shall be promoted given its potential to broaden access by poor and rural communities to the airwaves."
- "Efforts should be made to increase the scope of the print media, particularly to rural communities."
- "Taking positive measures to narrow the information gap between the rural and urban areas by increasing the coverage of the mass media, whether private, public or community based, (e.) Encouragement of the use of indigenous languages in the mass media as vehicles of promoting local, national, and regional inter-communication, (f.) Ensuring the media are adequately sensitized on gender issues so as to promote gender equality and equity in information dissemination."
- "Calls upon all States: (m) To facilitate equal participation in, access to, and use of, information and communications technology such as the Internet, applying a gender perspective."
- "Promoting diversity should be a primary goal of broadcast regulation; diversity implies gender equity within broadcasting, as well as equal opportunity for all sections of society to access the airwaves."
- "With these broad principles in mind, the Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize that in pre-election periods…( h) Print and Broadcast media make available reports and programmes that will reach the largest number of voters possible, including in minority languages and for those who may have been traditionally excluded from the political process, such as ethnic or religious minorities, women and indigenous groups."
- "Key concerns are: Do minority parties/candidates have reasonable and fair access to media? Are media available in the language(s) of national minorities? Do minorities in outlying areas have sufficient access to media?"
- "A domestic observer group can assess whether the information is provided on time, is accurate, excludes any group of eligible citizens, and is delivered in a way most likely to ensure the highest level of participation. This can be done by: Including the issue in media-monitoring activities (see Chapter 9); Checking the content, quantity, and distribution of information published by the authorities, such as leaflets and posters; and Checking whether information produced by the authorities is available in “minority” languages (if the concern is that minorities have been excluded)."
- "The exercise of power and the use of public funds by the state, the granting of customs duty privileges, the arbitrary and discriminatory placement of official advertising and government loans, the concession of radio and television broadcast frequencies, among others, with the intent to put pressure on and punish or reward the opinions they express threaten freedom of expression, and must be explicitly prohibited by law."
- "The right to equality before courts and tribunals, in general terms, guarantees, in addition to the principles mentioned in the second sentence of Article 14, paragraph 1, those of equal access and equality of arms, and ensures that the parties to the proceedings in question are treated without any discrimination."
- "A situation in which an individual's attempts to access the competent courts or tribunals are systematically frustrated de jure or de facto runs counter to the guarantee of article 14, paragraph 1, first sentence…The guarantee is violated if certain persons are barred from bringing suit against any other persons such as by reason of their race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."
- "The right to equality before courts and tribunals also ensures equality of arms. The principle of equality between parties applies also to civil proceedings, and demands, inter alia, that each side be given the opportunity to contest all the arguments and evidence adduced by the other party."
- "Equality before courts and tribunals also requires that similar cases are dealt with in similar proceedings. If, for example, exceptional criminal procedures or specially constituted courts or tribunals apply in the determination of certain categories of cases… objective and reasonable grounds must be provided to justify the distinction."
- "The obligation to fulfil requires States parties to take steps to ensure that in practice, men and women enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights on a basis of equality. Such steps should include: ...To establish appropriate venues for redress such as courts and tribunals or administrative mechanisms that are accessible to all on the basis of equality, including the poorest and most disadvantaged and marginalized men and women."
- "There should be equality of arms between the parties to the proceedings."
- "The essential elements of a fair hearing include: a) equality of arms between the parties to a proceedings, whether they be administrative, civil, criminal or military."
- "The essential elements of a fair hearing include: c) equality of access by women and men to judicial bodies and equality before the law in any legal proceedings."
- "The right to a fair hearing incorporates the principle of equality of arms. This means that everyone who is a party to proceedings must have a reasonable opportunity of presenting his case to the court under conditions which do not place him/her at a substantial disadvantage vis-à-vis his/her opponent."
- "This guarantee not only applies to courts and tribunals addressed in the second sentence of this paragraph of article 14, but must also be respected whenever domestic law entrusts a judicial body with a judicial task."
- "Article 14 is also relevant where a State, in its legal order, recognizes courts based on customary law, or religious courts, to carry our to entrusts them with judicial tasks. It must be ensured that such courts cannot hand down binding judgments recognized by the State, unless the following requirements are met:...the basic requirements of fair trial and other relevant guarantees of the Covenant, and their judgments are validated by State courts in light of the guarantees set out in the Covenant and can be challenged by the parties concerned in a procedure meeting the requirements of article 14 of the Covenant."
- "Similarly, the imposition of fees on the parties to proceedings that would de facto prevent their access to justice might give rise to issues under article 14, paragraph 1."
- "The cost of access to judicial review should not be such as to discourage applications."
- "No sum of money should be required of a party on behalf of the state as a condition of commencing proceedings which would be unreasonable having regard to the matters in issue. (12) In so far as the court fees constitute a manifest impediment to justice they should be, if possible, reduced or abolished. The system of court fees should be examined in view of its simplification."
- "The complaints procedure should be free of unnecessary obstacles, especially as regards to the cost of bringing an action to court. Wherever possible the complaints procedures should be accessible without charge to the complainant. Where costs are unavoidable, they should be kept to a minimum so as not to deter citizens from bringing a complaint."
- "States should take measures to ensure that all procedural documents are in a simple form and that the language used is comprehensible to the public and any judicial decision is comprehensible to the parties."
- "...The availability of such procedures must be open and known to the electorate and the parties."