MEXICO

WHEREAS
a number of journalists have been subpoenaed in recent months to testify before the federal Public Prosecutor’s Office under the obligation to reveal their sources

WHEREAS
journalists have been arrested because of what they wrote or said, as in the case of Isabel Arvide, who was arrested for the second time on March 4, 2003, in Chihuahua State after being arrested previously on libel charges on August 16, 2002

WHEREAS
police arrested another journalist, Adriana Varillas of Cancun newspaper La Voz del Caribe, and pressed her to reveal her sources for a report on corruption

WHEREAS
Principle 3 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that “No journalist may be forced to reveal his or her sources of information”

WHEREAS
Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators; such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly”

THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES

to ask President Vicente Fox to order the federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and all other federal authorities to respect the confidentiality of journalistic sources

to urge Mexico’s Congress to pass legislation establishing legal protections for the confidentiality of journalistic sources

to ask Chihuahua State judicial authorities to act with absolute impartiality in the trial of journalist Isabel Arvide, according her all procedural and legal protections for her defense, as well as the presumption of innocence, which is a governing principle in human rights under international declarations and conventions

to ask the Quintana Roo State authorities to stop making arbitrary arrests as in the case of reporter Adriana Varillas of Cancun newspaper La Voz del Caribe.
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