Brazil

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WHEREAS the Legislative Assembly of the state of Ceará passed a bill submitted by Workers Party Deputy Rachel Marques creating a Social Communications Counsel, although not signed by the state governor, that has the aim of “monitoring, receiving complaints, and sending opinions to competent authorities on abuses and violations of human rights in communications media in the state of Ceará;” the Council would consist of 25 members, of whom seven would represent the Executive and Legislative branches, eight the media, and ten civil society, including unions and student movements; and WHEREAS nine similar bills have been submitted in other Brazilian states; and WHEREAS the Minister of Culture is preparing a bill that would specify that copyrights of journalistic texts would fall into public domain upon publication for the first time; and WHEREAS there exists in Brazil strong pressure within the National Congress to include a provision in the nation’s constitution that would require a university degree for a journalist to be able to practice the profession; such a proposal violates the Inter American Convention on Human Rights, of which Brazil is a signatory; the demand for a journalism degree to work in the field violates freedom of the press and is contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec, signed by former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, by the present president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and by future president Dilma Roussef;; and WHEREAS for more than 460 days judicial censure has been imposed on O Estado de São Paulo, preventing it from publishing information about the operation “Boi Barrica/Factor,” in which the Federal Police are investigation the activities of businessman Fernando Sarney, son of José Sarney, former president of the country and now president of the Federal Senate; WHEREAS the Principle 10 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "o news medium nor journalist may be punished for publishing the truth or criticizing or denouncing the government" THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to urge governors of Brazilian states and their political leaders not to encourage, and to veto summarily if passed, laws that establish any sort of control on the media; more than unconstitutional, control or restriction of freedom of the press infringes, directly and violently, the natural right to free expression inherent in the human condition; to request of the National Council of Justice immediate measures to reestablish full freedom of the press, violated by the decision of the Judicial system to prohibit the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo from publishing information regarding the Federal Police Operation ”Boi Barraca/Factor,” now in effect for more than 460 days; to send a communication to the Brazilian Ministry of Culture requesting that it not proceed to make changes in the legal regimen of intellectual property in alterations of Brazilian legislation on copyrights, particularly in regard to making journalistic content public domain upon first publication.

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