New pressure group calls for more transparency;
Credit: ALJP
Luxembourg has slipped three places to rank 20th among 180 countries in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
Compiled by the international non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières - RSF), the annual index evaluates the press freedom situation worldwide. This year saw Norway once again top the list, followed by fellow Nordic countries Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Costa Rica also secured a spot in the top 5.
Luxembourg, which ranked 17th in 2020 (as well as in 2019 and 2018), dropped three places to 20th. In the 2013 and 2014 indexes, the country ranked 4th. According to RSF, the drop this year was largely due to a lack of transparency around COVID-19 figures, particularly at the start of the pandemic. In its report, the non-profit stated: "Luxembourg's media are limited structurally by the country's small size and the fact that their interests often conflict with those of decision-makers and businessmen".
The report, published on Tuesday 20 April 2021, came one day after a new pressure group in Luxembourg launched a campaign for greater transparency and the right of access to information. The group, initiated by the ALJP journalists' association, includes representatives of journalists, non-profit organisations and trade unions, who, as stated in a press release on Monday, "demand legally guaranteed access to information for journalists and more transparency from the state". They deemed the Transparency Act of 2018 "unsuitable in practice".
The ALJP and its new allies have thus launched a nationwide year-round campaign for journalists to access information, as well as more transparency in general. Several actions and activities are in the pipeline, including a social media campaign, regular updates on the ALJP website (journalist.lu) and a demonstration in front of the Chamber of Deputies on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2021. A separate information campaign with media partners is also planned.
The alliance is composed of the following groups and associations at present: Association luxembourgeoise des médias d'information (ALMI); Amnesty international Luxembourg; Action Solidarité Tiers Monde (ASTM); Association de soutien aux travailleurs immigrés (ASTI); Conseil de Presse; European Federation of Journalists; Greenpeace; Mouvement écologique; Onofhängege Gewerkschaftsbond Lëtzebuerg; UNESCO Lëtzebuerg. The CCDH national human rights commission has also expressed solidarity with this cause.
