Midyear Meeting
Cartagena de índias, Colombia
March 16 - 19, 2007
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COLOMBIA
Midyear Meeting
Cartagena de índias, Colombia
March 16 - 19, 2007
WHEREAS
the 31 newspapers affiliated with the Association of Colombian Newspapers (Andiarios) published a joint editorial denouncing judicial abuses in the more and more frequent decisions sanctioning the media and journalists based on a series of measures that prevented the newspaper El Heraldo and six media outlets in San Andres from publishing information about corruption
WHEREAS
the number of threats and intimidation of journalists and media outlets have increased, especially in the Caribbean Coast region because of news about links between legislators and members of paramilitary forces and events in the peace process the government is pursuing with the members of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Force of Colombia
WHEREAS
some members of the National Police were responsible for five cases of violations of press freedom in the departments of César, Santander and Risaralda
WHEREAS
principle 10 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “no news medium nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government”
THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to ask judges to respect precedent set by the high courts and Article 20 of the Constitution, which says there will be no censorship, because people involved in allegations of corruption should not be supported in their use of protective orders and civil, administrative and criminal lawsuits as a way to suppress information
to ask the national attorney general’s office to open investigations inside the Human Rights Office in Bogota to punish those responsible for the threats and intimidation of journalists and media outlets on the Caribbean Coast
to urge the director of the National Police to investigate officials who hinder and/or attack journalists and ensure that members of this institution understand and respect the role of journalists and the media.
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