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Country-by-Country
Reports
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LICENSING OF JOURNALISTS
WHEREAS
colegio membership by journalists is required by
law in Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela; a university degree is required for
the licensing of journalists in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti; and certification
of journalists is required in Cuba
WHEREAS
a mandatory colegio membership law that would impact
journalists has been enacted in Guatemala, and its legality is currently being
considered by the Constitutional Court, which has temporarily suspended the
law to safeguard freedom of speech
WHEREAS
the Inter-American Human Rights Court, in its 1985
Consultative Opinion OC-85, regarded mandatory colegio membership or licensing
requirements as restrictions on the exercise of freedom of speech and of the
press, which is protected under Article 13 of the 1969 American Convention on
Human Rights
WHEREAS
a Brazilian federal court recently ruled that university
degree requirements for the practice of journalism are unconstitutional and
suspended such requirement nationwide
WHEREAS
Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes
that "[t]he membership of journalists in guilds, their affiliation to professional
and trade associations and the affiliation of the media with business groups
must be strictly voluntary"
THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to call upon the government authorities of countries
with mandatory colegio membership requirements and licensing requirements for
the practice of journalism to declare such requirements unconstitutional or
expressly eliminate them.
to urge the Nicaraguan Supreme Court to rule favorably
on the appeals filed against obligatory licensing of journalists
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