IAPA protests new ‘press crimes’ enacted by Ecuador’s President Correa

Miami (June 24, 2013)— The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) considers that Ecuador’s Communication Organic Law signed into law on Saturday by President Rafael Correa officializes the muzzling of the press through a series of newly established “press crimes” that place the government above the people’s right to information, a human right established in international treaties. On Saturday (June 22nd) President Correa signed the much criticized law passed a week earlier by the National Assembly. The legislation, which is due to enter into effect once published in the official gazette, establishes a new crime referred to as “media lynching,” defined as the repeated dissemination of information with the aim of discrediting or reducing the credibility of individuals or legal entities. “This law will weaken press investigation processes and prevent the people from learning about what those in power seek to hide,” declared Claudio Paolillo, Chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information. Paolillo said that the law establishes a new offense of “contempt”, by granting special privileges to the authorities over those of its own citizens; something that has been eliminated from the penal codes of almost all the nations of the Western Hemisphere, and remains only in those of the most authoritarian regimes. “The law not only validates a gag on the press, but also establishes prior censorship and creates legal proceedings to identify and punish violations, giving officials absolute power to do away with freedom of expression and of the press,” added Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda. The law creates a Communication Regulation and Development Council with powers to punish failures to comply with it, and an Information and Communication Supervisory Office with the ability to watch over, audit, intervene in and control the behavior of the media. The IAPA said that the new “press crimes” and the requirement for journalists to belong to a guild imposed by this new law are matters that have been rejected by international courts, and repulsed as being contrary to human rights, not only those of journalists, but of all the people, as has been determined by the Inter-American Human Rights Court. “Unfortunately,” said Paolillo, “we are not surprised that President Correa’s government continues to create so called “press crimes’” with the objective of insulating his government from criticism, and having to account for its actions, while at the same time turning its back on its own citizens.” The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.