COLOMBIA
WHEREAS
in a ruling on March 18, 1998, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional Law 51 of 1975 which required a professional degree to practice journalism in Colombia; said court considered that to prevent someone who usually comments or informs from doing so because of alleged intellectual incompetence is a form of prior censorship disguised with reasons of convenience and incompatible with a democratic system
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on November 13,1985, ruled unanimously that obligatory licensing of journalists violates Article 3 of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights because it denies access to use of the media as a way to express or circulate information Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that the association of journalists in professional or trade organizations should be strictly voluntary and the restrictive nature of mandatory membership in a colegio is similar to obligatory licensing Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that prior censorship restricts press freedom and obligatory licensing of journalists is a form of prior censorship
THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
to support the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Colombia because obligatory licensing of journalists is prior censorship of free expression
to urge the governments of the Western Hemisphere to abrogate any regulations stipulating mandatory membership in a colegio or obligatory licensing of journalists
to request courts with constitutional jurisdiction to declare unconstitutional any regulations requiring mandatory membership in a colegio or obligatory licensing of journalists whenever the constitutionality of these rules is challenged as violating the right to information, the right of freedom of
expression and press freedom.
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