Senator Gbehzogar Findley, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting in the Senate of Liberia, openly displays his support to the media reform initiative. Photo: CEMESP/IMS

Liberian media and civil society handed over three draft media laws to legislators in Monrovia that, if passed, may align Liberia media with international standards

Four years after the signing of the peace accord, which ended almost two and a half decade of civil unrest in Liberia, representatives of the Liberia Media Law and Policy Reform Working Group, which has been supported with funding from IMS, handed over three draft media laws to the Liberian Senate and the House of Representatives in Monrovia.

In a petition ceremony at the Liberian Senate on 17 April, local sources counted more than 500 media practitioners, representatives of civil society and student groups who had come to witness the official handover. The chairman on the Information and Broadcasting Committee, Gbezongar Findley and members of his committee received the petition on behalf of the Senate and openly pledged their support to the draft laws.

In a statement, the Liberia Media Law and Policy Reform Working Group stressed the historical dimensions of the event in light of Liberia's not so distant past where rule of law was virtually non-existent:

- This activity is a manifestation of our freedom to associate for our common good, also guaranteed by the constitution.We are also doing all this to ensure that the government will heed our petition and pass these laws.

The draft laws include an act stipulating the establishment of an independent broadcast regulator, a freedom of information act as well as a national public broadcasting service act. If the laws are passed by the legislature, they will bring Liberian media laws up to speed with regional and international standards for the protection of media freedom and freedom of expression.

The ceremony marked the conclusion of four years of work by the Liberia Media Law and Policy Reform Working Group.The group was established in 2004 following a national Conference on media Law and Policy Reform in Liberia backed by a coalition of regional and international media organizations named "The Partnership for Media and Conflict Prevention in West Africa" which was initially set up in 2003 to support Liberian media to be able to play an optimal role in the reconstruction of Liberia.

In April 2007, The Partnership for Media and Conflict Prevention in West Africa published a report titled "Strengthening Liberia's Media", which reviews the progress made within the media sector in Liberia since the signing of the peace agreement.