Honduras

WHEREAS there is great concern about a constitutional change called Habeas Data used by the National Congress which tends to put up obstacles to freedom of expression and information, disregarding what is stated in the Declaration of Chapultepec, that freedom belongs to all human beings and not just the rulers WHEREAS academically, Habeas Data is “the right to ensure access to information about the petitioner in registries or databases of government entities or of public record and, second, for the correction of information when that cannot be achieved by judicial or administrative procedures” WHEREAS bills are also being studied to regulate specific political and social principles with the intention of incorporating principles that can cause the same restrictions on the freedom of expression, opinion and information, for example, the law on political organizations WHEREAS the courts are processing and issuing decisions that damage the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the Honduran Constitution, which is being distorted, and the principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to notify the government of the Republic of Honduras of this concern and to be permanently and continuously vigilant to guarantee freedoms of expression, information and opinion in Honduras.