IAPA GIVES ITS SUPPORT TO INTER-AMERICAN DECLARATION ON PRESS FREEDOM
IAPA GIVES ITS SUPPORT TO INTER-AMERICAN DECLARATION ON PRESS FREEDOM
The IAPA tells the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of violations of freedom of the press in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela and Chile. It welcomes the Commissions defense of the right to information in Costa Rica.
MIAMI, Florida (March
5, 2001)-The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) announced its support
for and adherence to the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression
during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Friday chaired jointly by Organization
of American States Secretary General César Gaviria and IAPA President
Danilo Arbilla.
Gaviria said the declaration, drafted by the OAS Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights was "a significant contribution the establishment of
a legal framework to protect the right to freedom of expression and it will
surely be the subject of interest and study by the OAS member countries."
The document, containing 13 principles on freedom of expression, is based
on the IAPA-sponsored Declaration of Chapultepec, drafted in 1994.
Arbilla, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay news weekly Búsqueda, said he felt "doubly pleased" at the act of endorsement "as a member of the IAPA at the leading role our organization played in the drafting of this document, but even more so as a member of the public, because this declaration crowns freedom of the press and of expression as the first and most fundamental of human rights." He added that "these principles are important because they represent a weapon to fight for and defend press freedom and they also provide a frame of reference to the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and Court."
Commission Chairman Claudio Grossman said that the Declaration "defines the legal framework and legitimacy of the aspiration of men and women to express themselves freely in society." Grossman paid tribute to "the leadership of Danilo Arbilla and other members of the IAPA, as well as Rapporteur Santiago Cantón" in drafting the Declaration, "because without their contribution we would not be here today."
Attending the ceremony were ambassadors to the OAS, representatives of non-governmental organizations, journalists and a high-ranking international delegation of the IAPA.
Jorge Taiana, secretary general of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, declared that the Declaration was "a milestone in the relationship between the Commission and the IAPA which has become closer in the past five years." He called the document "a summary, the culmination of a process by the two entities that have a common interest in defending every persons freedom of expression and of the press."
Canton paid tribute to the leadership shown by Arbilla and the IAPA for their "fundamental role in providing ideas and in the dialogue" which led to the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression. The document was adopted at the 108th regular session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in October 2000 and will be submitted for approval by the OAS member states during the hemisphere organizations general assembly in Quebec, Canada, in April.
Prior to the ceremony, IAPA delegates met with Taiana and Canton to raise their concerns about press freedom issues in the Americas. In this regard, Arbilla and the chairman of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, welcomed the issuance by the Commission of a note following complaints by the IAPA and the directors of the Costa Rican daily newspaper La Nación concerning a ruling by that countrys Supreme Court against the right of La Nación and its journalists to report on allegations of corruption among public officials.
The IAPA also complained of attacks and smear campaigns directed against directors and journalists of the Guatemalan newspapers Prensa Libre and elPeriódico after they reported alleged unlawful activity by communications minister and links of a television company director with exiled Peruvian presidential advisor and former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos.
Other issues raised included the new journalist licensing law expected to be passed shortly by the Nicaraguan Legislative Assembly, the ongoing wave of violence in Colombia, constant attacks by the government on independent journalists in Cuba, intimidation of the independent press in Venezuela by President César Chávez, and, among other cases, the existence of insult laws and restrictive legislation in Chile, such as the State SecurityLaw, which shields public officials.
These issues will be among those to be featured during the IAPAs Midyear Meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, March 17-20.
In addition to Arbilla, the IAPA delegation was made up of the Freedom of the Press and Information Committee Chairman Molina, Ahora, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; former IAPA President Horacio Aguirre, Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida; Executive Committee Chairman Diana Daniels, The Washington Post, Washington, D. C.; IAPA 2nd Vice President Andrés García Gamboa, Novedades de Quintana Roo, Cancún, Mexico; Chapultepec Committee Chairman Alejandro Miró Quesada C., El Comercio, Lima, Perú; Inter-American Committee Chairman Jayme Sirotsky, RBS, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Juan Ealy Ortiz, regional vice chairman for Mexico of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, and Roberto Rock, both of El Universal, Mexico City; Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz and Press Freedom Coordinator Ricardo Trotti.
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