Creating Laws to Shackle Justice: New Media and NGOs Proclamations

Presenter 4: Chuck Schaefer, professor and chair of international studies

Abstract: This presentation assesses the impact of a new trend to thwart justice and justify oppression. Many authoritarian regimes are ratifying new laws, through their rubber-stamp parliaments, to deny freedom of speech, curtail the press, and undercut civil society. With globalization, the Internet, and the codification of stricter international laws and human rights modalities, state sovereignty is under attack as governments “must” comply with ever more intrusive treaty agreements and international pressure to reform. But these regimes have devised a way to fight back. By creating laws that limit the amount of non-national monetary support media outlets, civil society organizations, and NGOs can legally accept, the repressive regimes have effectively undercut progressive influence from intergovernmental agencies (UN, et. al.), foundations, and foreign-based NGOs. If foreign support is deemed to be more than, for example, 10 percent, the regime has the right to inspect all files and material. If the organization in question is found to violate these new laws, they can either close or agree to have government officials placed on their staff to oversee operations.

These measures have effectively undercut civil society, freedom of the press, and the ability of citizens to voice opposition to oppression. The focus will be on how citizens are responding to this misapplication of law. In short, this panel explores how law has been used to ensure there is no justice.