NICARAGUA

NICARAGUA WHEREAS although Article 16 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua guarantees to all Nicaraguans “the right to gather, receive and disseminate information and ideas, in oral, written or graphic form or in any other way they choose” WHEREAS although the Political Constitution of the Republic of Nicaragua stipulates that “Nicaraguans have the right to express their thoughts freely, in public or private, individually or collectively, in oral, written or any other medium” WHEREAS although the opinion of the Inter-American Human Rights Court (Advisory Opinion OC-5/85) declares that obligatory licensing of journalists, which bars those who are not members of a colegio limited to those who have a certain type of university decree, from the practice of journalism is not compatible with the American Convention on Human Rights WHEREAS although the Nicaraguan government ratified as law the American Convention on Human Rights WHEREAS although obligatory licensing of journalists violates Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec on Freedom of Expression, signed by the Nicaraguan government in 1994 WHEREAS although the National Assembly of Nicaragua approved the partial veto proposed by President Arnoldo Alemán and approved obligatory licensing and legal punishment for vagrancy for journalists who practice the profession without a credential from the Journalists Colegio THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to condemn and denounce the National Assembly of Nicaragua for approving the Law to Create a Journalists’ Colegio and urge the government of Nicaragua not to establish regulations for the law which requires journalists to have a credential from the colegio in order to practice their profession to warn the government of Nicaragua that this Licensing Law violates Articles 13 and 29 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the Pact of Jan José) and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, as a consequence, it will be a setback to the government’s efforts to follow a foreign policy consistent with the democratic systems throughout the continent to urge the Supreme Court of Nicaragua to find the Licensing Law unconstitutional when the appeal is filed in the court to ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hear the case of licensing of journalists in Nicaragua, when the request is submitted, as a violation of human rights, consistent with earlier opinions and to submit an opinion to this effect to the Inter-American Human Rights Court to call on the Inter-American Human Rights Court to rule again against the obligatory licensing of journalists consistent with its advisory opinion OC-5/85 and with Article 13 of the human rights convention which recognizes freedom of information not just as the right to be informed but also the right to inform.