ID :
11880
Tue, 07/08/2008 - 15:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/11880
The shortlink copeid
NGOs discontent with limited No. of passes to G-8 summit media center
TOYAKO, Japan, July 8 (Kyodo) - Members of some nongovernmental organizations have expressed discontent over the limited number of passes issued by the Japanese government for entry into the International Media Center of the Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido.
In the media center in Rusutsu, a village near the town of Toyako where the G-8 summit venue is located, the Japanese government has allocated a press conference room for NGOs, where members of those groups are able to release their information by holding press conferences and issuing press releases and statements.
The Foreign Ministry called the measure ''much progress'' from the 2000 G-8 summit in Okinawa, when NGOs were limited in their scope of activities in a separate building from the media center.
The Japanese government, however, has issued only 100 entry passes for NGOs -- or two per group.
The 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum, in charge of coordinating the groups during the summit, has demanded the issuance of 150 to 200 passes.
But the Foreign Ministry has refused to increase the number, saying the number is almost the same as that in last year's G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
The NGOs are not authorized access to press briefings after sessions in the summit, and are only allowed to monitor the briefings via live video in a separate room.
Security concerns are apparently behind the limitations.
A senior official of the National Police Agency said, ''Since there are fears that groups containing radical figures could be among them, it would be impossible to make the entry completely free.''Takakiyo Ikari, a 21-year-old vocational school student and member of environmentalist group A Seed Japan, said, ''We were able to receive passes.
But I have heard there are some groups from abroad that cannot release their information as they do not have passes. I think they (the government) should be more open.''
In the media center in Rusutsu, a village near the town of Toyako where the G-8 summit venue is located, the Japanese government has allocated a press conference room for NGOs, where members of those groups are able to release their information by holding press conferences and issuing press releases and statements.
The Foreign Ministry called the measure ''much progress'' from the 2000 G-8 summit in Okinawa, when NGOs were limited in their scope of activities in a separate building from the media center.
The Japanese government, however, has issued only 100 entry passes for NGOs -- or two per group.
The 2008 Japan G8 Summit NGO Forum, in charge of coordinating the groups during the summit, has demanded the issuance of 150 to 200 passes.
But the Foreign Ministry has refused to increase the number, saying the number is almost the same as that in last year's G-8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
The NGOs are not authorized access to press briefings after sessions in the summit, and are only allowed to monitor the briefings via live video in a separate room.
Security concerns are apparently behind the limitations.
A senior official of the National Police Agency said, ''Since there are fears that groups containing radical figures could be among them, it would be impossible to make the entry completely free.''Takakiyo Ikari, a 21-year-old vocational school student and member of environmentalist group A Seed Japan, said, ''We were able to receive passes.
But I have heard there are some groups from abroad that cannot release their information as they do not have passes. I think they (the government) should be more open.''
