[huridocs-tech] China: Reporters Without Borders website blocked

15.04.2003

The Reporters Without Borders website has been inaccessible in China since 
at least 14 April. The organisation deplores this move by the authorities, 
who have already blocked access to dozens of sites of media outlets and 
human rights groups.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) today deplored as a 
blow to free expression a decision by the Chinese authorities to block 
access to the organisation's website and called for the immediate lifting 
of the ban, which may have been imposed because of a press release on the 
site about the extended imprisonment of cyber-dissident Liu Di. Internet 
users reported on 14 April that the site, www.rsf.org, was inaccessible in 
China.

The Chinese authorities systematically block access to websites containing 
"dangerous or subversive" material. A survey done by Harvard University's 
Berkam Center between last May and November showed that more than 50,000 of 
204,000 sites sought through the Google and Yahoo ! were inaccessible at 
least once from at least one place inside China.

Apart from openly pornographic sites, the main ones blocked were those 
about Tibet, Taiwan and democracy. More than 60 per cent of the Tibet sites 
and more than 47 per cent of the Taiwan sites listed by Google were blocked.

Last October, the following websites were still inaccessible in China : 
hrichina.org (Human Rights Watch in China), hrw.org (Human Rights Watch), 
amnesty.org, amnesty.org.uk, amnestyusa.org (Amnesty International), 
freetibet.org (the organisation Freetibet), tibet.com (the Tibetan 
government in exile), cnn.com (the US TV network CNN), bbc.co.uk (the BBC), 
washingtonpost.com (the US daily the Washington Post), 6-4tianwang.com (the 
site of cyber-dissident Huang Qi) and bignews.com (the dissident online 
paper VIP Reference).


Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom 
throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public and to be 
informed, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. Reporters Without borders has nine national sections (in 
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and 
the United Kingdom), representatives in Abidjan, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, 
Istanbul, Montreal, Moscow, New York, Tokyo and Washington and more than a 
hundred correspondents worldwide. 


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