Obligatory Licensing

WHEREAS at this time the National Congress in Brazil is considering four proposed constitutional amendments (three in the Chamber and one in the Federal Senate) reintroducing the requirement of a journalism degree; these proposals were presented because of a June 17 decision by the Supreme Federal Tribunal, which overturned by a vote of 8 to 1 the requirement of a university degree in journalism as a condition to practice the profession as stated in Decree Law 972 of 1969 WHEREAS a proposed Communications Law in Ecuador would establish, among other mechanisms to control the media, the obligation that journalists have a university degree and join the “colegio,” which is a step back from a decision by the Constitutional Court on March 12, 2008, that this requirement was unconstitutional WHEREAS obligatory licensing and the requirement of a university degree in communications to practice journalism is still in effect in Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Cuba WHEREAS Article 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “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” THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to ask the presidents of the Federal Senate and Chamber of Deputies in Brazil to work with legislators to maintain the understanding in the ruling by the Supreme Federal Tribunal, taking into account that obligatory licensing to practice the profession of journalism does not promote full press freedom to ask the governments of Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Cuba to abide by the Consultative Opinion 85 of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ruled that requiring a degree and membership in a guild violates Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights