Globe International is implementing an eight-month intensive campaigning “ASK!”starting from June, 2012 with the support of the IFEX — the global network for free expression. It is a part of our long-term strategy aiming at creation of favorable media legal environment, particularly decriminalization defamation. Globe International has been working on the issue since 2002, when the new Criminal Law had been enacted and used against a female journalist Khanddolgor.
In 2009, the Mongolian Government submitted its report on the ICCPR with 6 years of delay. Globe International in cooperation with Centre for Civil and Political Rights (Switzerland) and Center for Human Rights and Development, Mongolia mobilized 26 Mongolian human rights NGOs to prepare the shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee on the ICCPR. The chapters on Article 19 and 22 of the report have been completed by Globe International.
The UN HRC recommended the Mongolian Government ”The State party should guarantee the full compliance of the draft law on freedom of information with the Covenant and enact it. It should consider decriminalizing defamation and ensure that measures are taken to protect journalists from threats and attacks. It should also ensure that all allegations of such threats and attacks are immediately and thoroughly investigated, and that the perpetrators are prosecuted.”
However, the Mongolian authorities are slow to take actions to decriminalize defamation. The 2012 June Parliamentarian elections would be most appropriate moment to raise the issue again.
The main strategic concept of the Campaign is to ask the political parties and candidates, if they are committed to repeal the criminal defamation during the election campaigning and lobby them to say “YES!” and ask them again to take their promises after formation of the new Parliament and Government in the Fall of 2012.
The goal of the campaigning is to advocate and lobby the decriminalization defamation thus supporting the rights of independent media to tell the truth. The project is designed for using tools of theatre and new media to raise the issues and explain why decriminalization defamation is important.
Objectives of the Campaign are educating the politicians on need of decriminalization defamation, building up the political commitment of the political parties and legislators and raising the public awareness.
In the framework of the campaign, we are planning to carry out the following activities:
1) Online campaigning
The project will launch URL ‘ASK!’ at GI web site and will feature the educational materials on need to repeal the criminal defamation. The list of “WHY?” has been developed by GI staff. GI also will post the names of the candidates and ask them to click on “Yes” or “No” button or “Like” button on the created page and express their opinions by sending e-mails, letters, SMS and making calls. The report on the results will be published through the media. The social media such as Facebook, Twitter will be widely used.
2) Staged reading
The staged reading and script-writing workshops are an effective and innovative tool to raise the awareness of the public and politicians. We will invite the playwrights to write stage scripts of the 30 or 40 minute one acts that will be based on the true stories of criminal defamation cases against journalists. The cases will be selected and presented to the scriptwriters who will develop the scripts through a series of workshops. We will ask the IFEX members to support our campaigning.
3) Round table ASK!
Near the end of the project, the final round table will be organized to evaluate the campaigning and inform the public on the results. Decriminalization defamation is a hard issue to accept the wide support from the society. There are many human rights activists, lawyers and politicians who still keep their old position to have the criminal defamation legislation remain. However, we have to make the Mongolian government shame, if they ignore the UN recommendations.
The Mongolian Government will submit its next report on the ICCPR to the UN HRC in 2015.