Nepal’s proposed media and communication laws will have a “chilling effect” on its citizens’ right to free speech, Human Rights Watch warned yesterday as it called for the bills to be amended.

The government—which is drafting and has tabled bills on media, IT and mass communications—has said the laws are necessary to improve media reporting and discourage disinformation.

But journalists and right activists say they could be used to suppress freedom of expression, with the ruling party showing less and less tolerance for dissent since coming to power in 2017.

In a letter to Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli published online, HRW said the draft laws as well as previous amendments to the penal code criminalised speech in a way that was “extremely broad” and “unacceptably vague”.