Ecuador

ECUADOR Resolution of the Midyear Meeting Caracas, Venezuela March 28 - 30, 2008 WHEREAS on October 13, 2007, the president of Ecuador brought a petition before the Constitutional Court to put an end to compulsory membership in professional associations or trade unions, which is currently effect for a number of occupations, including journalism WHEREAS in a well-reasoned decision, which cited the advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declaring compulsory membership in professional associations to be inconsistent with human rights, the Constitutional Court issued Ruling 38-2008 on March 12, 2008, declaring that current laws requiring membership in professional associations or trade unions for certain occupations are unconstitutional WHEREAS some third parties have requested that Ruling 38-2008 be further clarified, and this request is now under review by the court WHEREAS May 10, 2008, will mark one year since the president of Ecuador filed a criminal complaint against the editor of Diario La Hora in response to an opinion piece that ran in the paper, and on that day the prosecutor in the case is to decide whether to dismiss the case or file charges WHEREAS Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “The membership of journalists in guilds, their affiliation to professional and trade associations and the affiliation of the media with business groups must be strictly voluntary” WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, 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 commend the Ecuadorian government, and particularly the Constitutional Court, for acknowledging that laws requiring membership in professional associations are unconstitutional to urge the Constitutional Court to respond to the request for a clarification of Ruling 38-2008, without compromising its previous ruling to urge the prosecutor handling the criminal complaint against Diario La Hora to dismiss the case as unfounded.