Colombia

WHEREAS threats to journalists are continuing, especially in certain provinces and on matters related to the coverage of and investigations into projects with a possible ramification for the environment, the presence of new criminal gangs, and into alleged violations by the authorities WHEREAS the Colombian Attorney General’s Office in the last six months logged major progress in the cases of threats to and violence against journalists Claudia Julieta Duque Orrego and Jineth Bedoya Lima WHEREAS with the arrival of a new Attorney General, such as is the case of Eduardo Montealegre, and to the extent that there exist innumerable cases that require a speed-up in the investigations and referral to the Attorney General’s Office’s department dealing with cases of crimes against journalists WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people.” THE IAPA MIDYEAR MEETING RESOLVES to call upon the authorities to protect journalists in their carrying out news coverage, safeguarding their movements and professional work, and upon companies and entities to respect denunciations made within the framework of a free provision of responsible information to acknowledge the progress in investigations and actions taken to punish those responsible for threats to and attempts to intimidate reporter Claudia Julieta Duque Orrego and for the abduction and rape of reporter Jineth Bedoya to urge new Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre to carry out an in-depth review of the state of each one of the legal proceedings in crimes against journalists in order to establish a new agenda of priorities in the cases which moreover could become subject to statutes of limitations under the law, so as to take the appropriate action.