Access to Information
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
WHEREAS
arbitrary actions by govemment officials at many levels and in different ways have blocked or hindered access by the press to official information, as has happened recently in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the United States, Guatemala, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Peru and Venezuela,
among other countries free access to information is a universally respected human right and the basis of press freedom
it is essential that the authorities understand that they are not the owners of the information they produce but that it belongs to the community they serve
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to contact those officials that violate the right of free access to information, asking them to allow such access
to instruct the Committee on the Freedom of the Press and Information to act immediately and energetically whenever such restrictive actions are reported so as to stop these reprehensible acts hindering the task of reporting
to ask member newspapers of the IAPA to act in solidarity and publicly condemn those responsible far such abuses.