Colombia

WHEREAS for two years the Colombian Newspapers Association (Andiarios) has been asking the Attorney General’s office to pursue investigations into more than 200 threats to journalists, for which priorities were set in 20 cases, without their having so far achieved any progress; and WHEREAS during this six-month period the tendency of officials and other branches of government to use judicial mechanisms to silence media outlets, increasingly using lawsuits because of the financial incentives for those filing them; WHEREAS with the pretext of guaranteeing the rights of equality and of minors some sectors are insisting on introducing legislative bills that would facilitate censorship by subjecting newspapers and other media to restrictions and limitations in the dissemination of content; WHEREAS between March and October 2010 the Press Freedom Foundation reported 30 threats, 22 assaults on journalists and three attacks on news media premises, among others; WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says, “Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly” THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to urge the Attorney General’s Office to present with all possible speed the results of those 20 priority investigations into threats against journalists in order to punish those responsible and prevent threats becoming a form of intimidation of journalists; to insist prosecutors and judges take into account that investigations and court rulings protect the practice of journalism and support the autonomous and independent work of journalists so that the news media can fulfill its watchdog role in society. to ask Colombia’s Congress for the file on all projects that may affect press freedom and free speech and give rise to restrictions and limitations being imposed on newspapers and other media in their role of informing; to urge provincial authorities, public officials and police to fully investigate the threats already received by journalists so those responsible can be punished.