IAPA shares its experiences with Asian journalists, launches redesign of its anti-impunity Web site

The international conference, “Impunity and Press Freedom,” is being held this week by the Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility; its objective is to launch a program to combat the murder of journalists and the prevailing lack of due punishment by the courts.

Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, declared, “It is an honor and a matter of pride for our organization to share with colleagues what we have learned and achieved, as well as our frustrations, in our battles to foster and defend freedom of the press in the Americas.”

In his address to the conference Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, reported on the conclusions that emerged from the IAPA-sponsored Hemisphere Conference on The Judiciary, the Press and Impunity held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic July 18-20 last year. He stressed the importance given by the attending chief justices of Supreme Courts from throughout the Western Hemisphere to the need “to create opportunities to join with specialists and members of society to discuss the possibility of pursuing legal reforms so that those guilty of attacking freedom of speech may be duly prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced; specifically, when applicable, to recommend the implementation of new model of criminal procedure.”

Marroquín also reported on the success the IAPA has obtained by petitioning the inter-American justice system.

Roby Alampay, SEAPA’s executive director, said that the new program to combat impunity in the Philippines has taken into account the model used by the IAPA in Latin America. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), which is supporting this initiative, is also implementing a similar program in Russia.

Ricardo Trotti, the IAPA’s press freedom director, declared, “The fight against impunity in Latin America has made definite progress, considering that there are currently 78 people in prison for murdering journalists, when 10 years ago you could count them on the fingers of one hand. Impunity maintains, however, alarming levels when the masterminds are still rarely punished.”

Marroquín and Trotti gave details of new investigations and statistics compiled by the IAPA concerning legal proceedings in 84 cases of the murder of journalists and announced the relaunch of the Web site www.impunidad.com with a more attractive design and greater ease of navigation.

The revamped Web site’s contents include new sections, documents, statistics and graphics and makes it possible for users to sign petitions for justice that are sent to presidents and other senior officials of Latin American countries.

The IAPA’s Impunity Project is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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