This past Sunday, May 3, was marked as “World Press Freedom Day”, an occasion to highlight situations where press access to information, and limitations on writer’s ability to create freely is being limited.
The organization PEN International originally stood for Poets, Essayists and Novelists, but quickly expanded to include writers of all genres in order to emphasise the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views. Originating in London, England in 1921, it now has autonomous organizations in over 100 countries.
Tasleen Thawar is the Executive Director of PEN Canada and talks about the group’s work internationally and about press freedoms in Canada.
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Although Canada is perceived as a country of freedoms, Ms Thawar points out that Canada is actually rather far down on the list of countries in terms of the legal framework to access to information. She says we’re ranked 59th out of 120 countries.
Ms Thawar also notes that while PEN Canada defends writers freedoms and advocates both domestically and abroad, in the past few years, more of the organization’s time and effort are being taken up by situations in Canada.
The organization has also created a “censorship tracker” page on their website superimposed on a map of Canada. It shows where censorship of other freedom of expression issues have cropped up, and what they are.
She says it’s a unique centralized location for all to see where concerns lie.
She points out that PEN Canada has been successful in battling repression of journalistic freedom, and also in freeing jailed journalists in other countries, although she says some countries regimes really don’t care about human rights advocates and their campaigns so there are setbacks. Still, she says one of the most important aspects of the work is simply bringing these situations to light so the public can be made aware of how their rights to freedom of expression and access to information on government activities are being limited. With this exposure, such restrictions can be overturned, but it is an on-going effort.
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