A new media regulation law in the Maldives will seriously undermine freedom of expression in the country, the United Nations warned Thursday, urging the authorities to repeal the legislation.
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu last week ratified the Media and Broadcasting Regulations Law a day after it passed through parliament, even as local and foreign rights groups charged that it constituted an attack on free press.
Under the legislation, a regulatory commission would be set up with sweeping powers, including the authority to suspend media outlets and block newspaper websites during an investigation.
The new law "will seriously undermine media freedom and the right to freedom of expression for the people of the Maldives if not withdrawn", UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani warned in a statement.
It "introduces rules incompatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Maldives is a State party", she pointed out, decrying the law's "overly broad content restrictions on the media, as well as on journalists and media workers".
The law "grants the new Media and Broadcasting Commission intrusive powers to conduct investigations, impose fines on media workers, and revoke and cancel licenses and permits of media outlets", Shamdasani cautioned.
The commission will have powers to impose sanctions, including fines of up to 25,000 rufiyaa ($1,625) for journalists and up to 100,000 rufiyaa ($6,500) for media outlets.
It will also be able to revoke media licences and initiate punitive proceedings against editorial offices, and will be able to retroactively sanction content published up to one year before the rules come into force.
The Maldivian foreign ministry said the new legislation aimed to strengthen public confidence in media and address misinformation and content manipulation.
Shamdasani highlighted that the law had been introduced following "a worrying erosion of institutional checks and balances in the past year".
"An independent, free, plural and diverse media is a core component of the right to freedom of expression and a cornerstone of democratic society," she insisted.
Shamdasani said that her boss, UN rights chief Volker Turk, was appealing to the authorities in the Maldives "to repeal the legislation".
He "offers the Office's assistance to the Maldives in ensuring any media reforms comply with its international human rights obligations", she said.