A high-level international mission on press freedom and freedom of expression led by Christopher Warren, the president of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), has arrived in Kathmandu on a five-day tour.

During its stay, the mission, which is named International Advocacy Mission for Press Freedom in Nepal, will review the media situation after the restoration of democracy in Nepal and will advise the government and media bodies for reforms in media policies, according to the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), which is hosting the mission.

Warren’s team met with Speaker of the House of Representatives Subash Nemwang at his office in Singha Drubar Sunday and discussed the situation of press freedom here.

At the meeting, the INJ president stressed that the parliament should play active role for constitutional and legal guarantee of press freedom, a FNJ release said. Warren expressed satisfaction over the initiatives taken by the FNJ, the umbrella body of Nepalese journalists, and the High-level Media Commission for reforms in media policies for creation of liberal and media-friendly environment in Nepal.

International Media Support (IMS) president Jesper Hojberj said press freedom was not only the concern of the journalists but it is also a basic civil liberty, which must be guaranteed in a democratic political system.

Speaker Nembang ensured the mission that the parliament was fully committed to press freedom and freedom of expression. He further said the parliament would take all necessarily steps to ensure press freedom and freedom of expression and praised the struggle of the Nepalese press for the restoration of democracy and press freedom in Nepal.

FNJ president Bishnu Nisthuri, Toby Mendel of Article 19, Andrea Cairola of UNESCO, Jacqueline Park of IFJ, Biljana Tatomir of Open Society Institute (OSI), Sunanda of International News Safety Institute (INSI), Ashish Sen of AMARC, Faruq Faisal and Laxmi Murti of IFJ were also present in the meeting.

The mission, which is a follow-up of an international mission that visited Nepal in June 2005 and March 2006, will meet with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, deputy prime minister K.P Oli, CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba, Maoist supremo Prachanda and other political leaders and discuss scenario of press freedom and freedom of expression in Nepal.

The mission members will also have interactions with the national media community, donors, international community, government officials and members of the civil society.