THERE'S A SWELLING MOVE TO DECRIMINALIZE LIBEL.
"x x x.
UNCHR ruled that Adonis’ imprisonment violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Philippines is a signatory.
"Defamation laws must be crafted with care to ensure... that they do not serve, in practice, to stifle freedom of expression. All such laws, in particular penal defamation laws, should include defenses as the defense of truth and they should not be applied with regard to those forms of expression that are not, of their nature, subject to verification," it said.
"At least with regard to comments about public figures, consideration should be given to avoiding penalizing or otherwise rendering unlawful untrue statements that have been published in error but without malice. In any event, a public interest in the subject matter of the criticism should be recognized as a defense. Care should be taken by state parties to avoid excessively punitive measures and penalties. State parties should consider the decriminalization of defamation and, in any case, the application of the criminal law should only be countenanced in the most serious of cases and imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty," it added.
x x x."
