Yesterday(November 10) the Freedom of Expression Institute was made aware of a decision allegedly taken by the organisers of the press at the Commonwealth Heads of Government that press releases issued by non-governmental organisations were to be vetoed by someone appointed to be the intermediary between the press and NGOs. Subsequent denials of members of the Department of Foreign Affairs appeared to allay this fear. However, this morning in attempting to confirm that a press release issued by the Southern African Human Rights NGOs Network and the Freedom of Expression Institute had been distributed by the intermediary, we were informed by Thulani Khathide from the Dept of Foreign Affairs that a decision had been taken that if a press release "incriminated a member state", it would not be released to the press.

We find this outrageous and a flagrant disregard of press freedom and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees the right to receive and impart information.

We call upon the Commonwealth Secretariat to rectify this situation immediately so as to eliminate this ridiculous censorship and keep the lines of communication open.

for further information: Mark Weinberg 082 375 9454 (FXI executive member and currently present at the NGO forum at the CHOGM) Laura Pollecutt 011 403 8403; 083 604 1073