In a letter to the President, WAN and the WEF said a bill approved by Congress earlier this month directly threatens press freedom because it would give the state the right to veto any media assistance programme involving NGOs and international donors.

"The bill is similar to legislation approved by the Kremlin in Russia in January, which has been widely criticised by the international community," said the letter. "One of the effects of the Russian law’s adoption was to encourage public officials to discredit some NGOs as fronts for foreign governments and threaten the closure of others. Some foreign NGOs had their activities suspended until they had fully complied with the burdensome registration procedures."

The letter said:

"We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at proposals that would allow the government to interfere with the activities of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), undermine human rights protection and threaten freedom of expression.

"According to reports, on 2 November Congress approved a bill that would give a government agency, the Peruvian Agency of International Cooperation (APCI), the power to ’supervise’ NGOs, ’in accordance with national development policy and the public interest’. Under the law, both human rights NGOs and the international donors which support them would have to register with the APCI. All projects and activities would have to be separately registered both by the donor and the beneficiary as a condition for transfer of funds. The bill is awaiting the approval of some minor amendments before being presented to you for approval.

"The bill is similar to legislation approved by the Kremlin in Russia in January, which has been widely criticised by the international community. One of the effects of the Russian law’s adoption was to encourage public officials to discredit some NGOs as fronts for foreign governments and threaten the closure of others. Some foreign NGOs had their activities suspended until they had fully complied with the burdensome registration procedures.

’We are concerned that this legislation directly threatens press freedom by giving the state the right to veto any media assistance programme -- such as the promotion of investigative journalism, access to information and even the physical protection of endangered journalists -- that depends on international support.

"We respectfully call on you to reject the bill and to do everything in your power to ensure that your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression."

More press freedom protests here.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 73 national newspaper associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

The WEF is the organisation for editors within the World Association of Newspapers (www.worldeditorsforum.org).

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.