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Immediately after it was passed on 12 September 2012, the Philippines’ Cybercrime Prevention Act was met with a flurry of legal challenges from journalists and civil society organisations in the Philippines. An Analysis released by the Centre for Law and Democracy confirms and supports their concerns, finding that the law perpetrates significant violations of international standards on freedom of expression. The implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act has been suspended by the Supreme Court for 120 days, in order to allow the challenges against the law to proceed. We call on the Court to recognise the ways in which the Act breaches the right to freedom of expression, and for lawmakers in the Philippines to amend it so as to strike an appropriate balance between addressing crimes and respecting fundamental human rights.
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