PARAGUAY II

PARAGUAY - II WHEREAS the government shows a pronounced tendency to use all kinds of threats and pressure to restrict journalists who express disagreement with official policies WHEREAS the law to “regulate private information” approved December 28 obviously protects public officials, politicians and legislators to avoid investigation of the origin of their assets and alleged corruption WHEREAS the restrictions the law imposes conflict with constitutional articles that expressly establish press freedom and those that make officials responsible for all their actions WHEREAS according to Principle 3 of the Declaration of Chapultepec, “he authorities must be compelled by law to make available in a timely and reasonable manner the information generated by the public sector; no journalist may be forced to reveal his or her sources of information” THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to condemn this law’s restrictions on investigative journalism to ask the three branches of the Paraguayan government to promote efforts to repeal this law.