Impunity

WHEREAS violence against the press by organized crime has increased in several countries in the hemisphere, and the lack of resolution and action as well as the indifference of authorities toward most of the killing of journalists in the last 20 years have caused self-censorship among journalists and media outlets and disinformation among citizens WHEREAS governments should refine “legislation to make it possible to prosecute and sentence those who instigate the assassination of persons exercising the right to freedom of expression” and adopt the principle “that there should be no statute of limitations for crimes against persons when these are perpetrated to prevent the exercise of freedom of information and expression or when their purpose is the obstruction of justice,” as is stated in Resolution 29 approved by UNESCO on November 12, 1997 WHEREAS states should take effective and definitive measures “to investigate and punish, in accordance with their internal legislation, attacks on the exercise of freedom of expression and crimes against journalists,” in compliance with the resolution of the Organization of American States of June 2, 1998 WHEREAS President Felipe Calderón of Mexico said to the IAPA during a recent visit to his country that he had a sympathetic view of “the idea of increasing sentences” to combat violence against journalists and impunity; and in Colombia an increase in sentences for crimes against journalists was included in the 2001 Code of Criminal Procedure WHEREAS the amendment of the Constitution in Brazil in December 2004 provides that crimes against human rights, including crimes against freedom of expression, can be moved to federal jurisdiction; and the Executive Branch in Mexico moved seven cases of missing or slain journalists into federal jurisdiction by administrative decree in 2006 WHEREAS in Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, special prosecutors’ offices have been established to investigate and follow up on crimes and other violent acts against journalists WHEREAS obstacles and lack of cooperation have been observed on the part of some governments in attempts to extradite people accused of killing journalists, such as the cases of Mexican journalists Francisco Ortiz Franco and Víctor Manuel Oropeza, in which the main suspects are in U.S prisons, and the case of the Paraguayan Santiago Leguizamón, in which the criminals are in Brazilian jails WHEREAS multilateral and bilateral financial aid institutions carefully monitor the effective exercise of human rights, including freedom of expression WHEREAS Article 4 of, the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to urge the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the hemisphere to define and apply effective mechanisms to halt violence against journalists and combat impunity for these crimes to encourage all governments to comply with the commitments of UNESCO Resolution 29 to promote legislation with the intention of investigating and adjudicating in an effective way the killers of journalists and to combat impunity to ask the member states of the OAS to comply with the resolution to punish crimes against journalists and freedom of expression to ask legislators and executive powers to work on passage of laws that provide for increased punishment for crimes against freedom of expression to ask countries with federal forms of government to promote changes in legislation to handle killings of journalists at the federal level to urge public ministries to open special prosecutors’ offices and give them the resources necessary to investigate, follow up and bring to justice those guilty of crimes of violence against journalists to ask public ministries to streamline cooperation agreements to reach efficient mechanisms for extradition and exchange of information to recommend to international and financial agencies to suspend or reject aid when countries fail to comply with their obligation to investigate and punish killers of journalists in a timely fashion.