HAITI

HAITI WHEREAS a freely-elected government has been restored with the return on October 15 of PresidentJean Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown by a military coup in September 1991 in this new and delicate process, the role of the press is essential in strengthening the political system chosen by the people media outlets which had been confiscated or closed during three years of iron-fisted dictatorship have begun to reopen, and restrictions on the movements of domestic and foreign journalists have been lifted a law on licensing of journalists, through obligatory membership of the journalists guild, is on the books THE 50TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE lAPA RESOLVES to request the president and other government authorities to take the necessary steps to guarantee that the media may operate freely and without restriction of any kind to request the president to bring to bear his good offices and to provide the necessary security framework, so that media which have been closed or confiscated, and aH journalists, can once again perform their role to ask the government of Haiti to sponsor repeal of the licensing law.