Ecuador

WHEREAS the judiciary has handed down prison sentences against those found guilty of libel WHEREAS the Political Constitution establishes the supremacy of international treaties, including over the Constitution itself WHEREAS the Inter-American Charter on Human Rights is against making libel a criminal offense WHEREAS the official observation mission that the IAPA carried out in July came to the conclusion that there exists systematic harassment of independent media, non-pro-government outlets, and all those that have an opinion contrary to the government WHEREAS both the bill for a Communication Law as well as the new Organic Law on Control of Market Power, which are shortly to be enacted, discriminate against shareholders in “national” news media who hold 6% or more of such shares, because these would be prevented from having legal participation in companies that are not in the communication sector WHEREAS the National Assembly is about to debate a proposal to reform the Penal Code and that such proposal contemplates defamation and punishes it with prison. WHEREAS Principles 5 and 6 of the Declaration of Chapultepec state that “Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press” and that “The media and journalists should neither be discriminated against nor favored because of what they write or say” THE 67 IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to actively accompany citizens, journalists and news media in their representations to international agencies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to draw the attention of the news media of the Americas and the world to the progressive loss of freedom of expression in Ecuador with courts issuing sentences contrary to international treaties to draw the attention of the business community in the Americas and the world to legal restrictions that discriminate against those holding shares in “national” news media. to ask the National Assembly that when it debates the proposal to reform the Penal Code it take into consideration what international treaties say on the matter, especially the Inter American Convention on Human Rights to exhort the President of the Republic of Ecuador to review his policy of systematic attacks against the independent press to demand that Ecuadorean courts, as they administer justice, observe all that which international treaties contemplate, such as the Inter American Convention on Human Rights.