COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA WHEREAS three journalists have been killed in the last six months in connection with their professional work dozens more have been threatened and seven had to leave the country for this reason Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says that murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation and unjust imprisonment of journalists, violence of any type and impunity for those responsible severely limit freedom of press and expression and that these acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly Principle 5 rejects prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists since they directly contradict freedom of the press the worsening of the armed conflict in Colombia has produced a climate of intimidation and intolerance that markedly affects the free practice of journalism THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to urge the Colombian government to redouble its efforts to improve safeguards for the practice of the profession to request Foreign Ministry authorities to cooperate genuinely with journalists who have taken refuge abroad because of death threats from guerrilla or paramilitary groups to urge that the Attorney General Office's investigations of journalists' murders yield concrete results so that impunity is no longer normal when Colombian journalists are killed.