UN refuses to accredit taiwanese journalists to cover World Health Organisation meeting

Reporters Without Borders has protested at the decision of the UN to refuse accreditation to journalists from Taiwan applying to cover the World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting in Geneva from 22-27 May 2006 and has called on it to reconsider. The WHO justifies its refusal by the fact that Taiwan is not recognised as a member state by the UN General Assembly and that Taiwanese journalists cannot therefore be accredited. “This is an obstruction of press freedom and the right to information. Taiwanese journalists are being made victims of a political measure,” the organisation said. It is the third consecutive year that journalists from Taiwan have been refused accreditation.