UNESCO withdraws patronage to RSF

UNESCO has withdrawn its patronage of the Online Free Expression Day, organized by the non-governmental organization, Reporters Sans frontiers (RSF).

UNESCO reiterates its support for freedom of expression on the internet but felt compelled to withdraw patronage following the publication of information by RSF which did not follow the arrangements agreed upon between the two organizations concerning the event, said a press release issued by the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris on Wednesday(12)

The statement said that UNESCO could not endorse material published by RSF concerning a number of its Member States. Further, it objected to the use of UNESCO's logo along with the above material.

Political observers say that, interestingly, the RSF blacklist did not include a single Western country, and that its fire was concentrated on the so-called Third World.

RSF has several times published wrong information about Sri Lanka in a bid to tarnish its image.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080314_03