WHEREAS the Latin American Project for Journalism in Exile (RELPEX) of the IAPA was created in 2024 to support journalists in situations of exile, mobility, or forced displacement, providing emergency assistance, legal aid, employment stipends, psychosocial care, among other resources, as well as informing about scholarships, workshops, programs, and support resources available to this community
WHEREAS exile or forced displacement is a dynamic, changing, and difficult-to-quantify phenomenon, with harmful causes and consequences, including professional uprooting, and although some journalists have managed to reintegrate into media outlets in their host countries, seven out of ten exiled journalists have had their professional careers interrupted, according to data collected by RELPEX
WHEREAS to pursue its objectives, RELPEX—which currently serves 300 journalists from 14 countries in the Americas—has received financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), as well as support from DW Akademie, UNESCO, the Press and Freedom of Expression Institute (IPLEX) of Costa Rica, the Thomson Reuters Foundation TrustLaw program, the Network of Exile Media (NEMO), and Vita Activa, among other organizations
WHEREAS the exile of journalists in the region does not result from isolated individual decisions, but from a systematic pattern of political persecution and restrictions on press freedom, accompanied by a structural deficit in protection, labor integration, and psychosocial well-being in host countries, as documented by RELPEX
WHEREAS the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes in its fourth principle that freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by “intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators” and affirms in its tenth article that “no news media nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government.”
Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly.
THE 81st GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
To encourage the strengthening of collaboration to efficiently respond to and manage the support and tools available to address the lack of resources and the enormous needs of journalists forced into exile and forced displacement
To urge organizations dedicated to monitoring journalism to support journalistic projects from exile, many of which face shortages and limitations
To reiterate the request to host states to create integration projects for exiled journalists and provide them with adequate humanitarian, economic, psychological, and labor assistance, as well as to expedite legal procedures for granting political asylum or special work visas
To urge the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and other intergovernmental organizations to create programs to support the integration of journalists and to promote reintegration programs in their countries of origin when conditions allow.
