Joint ANJ-IAPA event will be held in Brasília May 27
Miami (May 25, 2011)—A Forum on Freedom of Expression and the Judicial Branch of Government in Brazil, organized by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and Brazil’s National Press Association (ANJ), will take a close look at the contributions of national and international case law and their effect upon freedom of the press.
With the participation of Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Justice Cesar Peluzo and other judges the day-long forum will be held on Friday, May 27 at the Supreme Court building in Brasília. Also planned is the participation of experts in rulings made by the Inter-American Human Rights Court.
An opening panel discussion will review the effects of the repeal two years ago of the 1967 Press Law in Brazil and the contributions of the courts to create case law that strengthens free speech and press freedom. The discussion will be headed by member of the federal Congress Miro Teixeira of Rio de Janeiro; jurist Manuel Alceu Affonso Ferreira of São Paulo, and Doctor of Public Law Gustavo Binenbojm.
Subsequently, another panel discussion will be on how the right of reply is handled in various countries, with presentations by journalist and director of the United States’ Woodrow Wilson Center Paulo Sotero, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper columnist José Neumann Pinto, and attorney and former Peru Ombusdman Jorge Santistevan de Noriega.
After that three panelists will review the application of case law of the Inter-American Human Rights Court in the Organization of American States member countries, with the participation of the former chief justice of that Court, Pedro Nikken, ANJ and International Association of Broadcasting legal counsel Alexandre Jobim, and the legal counsel of the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, Tais Gasparian.
The first two panels will be chaired by Supreme Court justices Ayres Britto and Ellen Gracie respectively. The third panel will be chaired by Paulo Tonet Camargo, Chair of ANJ’s Government Relations Committee. The forum is to be inaugurated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Cesar Peluzo, ANJ President Judith Brito and IAPA Executive Director Julio E. Muñoz.
Also attending the event will be Brazilian members of the IAPA. Representing the organization in addition to Muñoz will be Press Freedom Director Ricardo Trotti and Chapultepec Project Manager Sally Zamudio.
The forum, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, forms part of the IAPA’s Chapultepec Program.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
