Miami (August 14, 2014)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today welcomed a new law for the protection of journalists in Honduras, but warned that it has several weak points that could affect its being put into practice and thus being effective.
The IAPA concerns arose after reviewing the Law on Protection of Defenders of Human Rights, Journalists, Social Communicators and Operators of Justice, passed on August 6 on second debate in the federal Congress and a great discussion that its content had in the Central American country among members of legislative committees, press organizations and news media.
The discussion will continue on August 18 with the same players, but it will center on specific topics relating to budgets, procedures for assessing risks and help for victims.
After the review the chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, said that while the new legislation “contains points that represent an evident advance in the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms we would stress the lack of comprehensiveness, as it does not link, beyond the defense sector and a Body of Protection, to other parts of the government – for example, Health and the Attorney General’s Office.” He added that neither does there exist clarity on a sufficient and suitable budget, and it does not speak of a sufficient operational and supervisory capacity.
The creation of an institutional mechanism for the protection of journalists and other groups facing violence was included in the action plan arising from the Conference on Safety, Protection and Solidarity for Freedom of Expression held in Tegucigalpa in 2002 by the IAPA and the Honduras News Media Association (AMC). On that occasion a call was also issued to “the branches of government to carry out a technical-judicial analysis and come up with a sole proposal for a law that supports and facilitates the effective implementation of the mechanism for the protection of journalists and vulnerable groups.”
Paolillio, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, warned that the Honduras law “leaves out aspects and could become an ineffective norm difficult to operate.” He added, “Our greatest concern is that it could end up like the Mexican law which after being in effect for two years and without a sufficient budget has not managed to become a real organism that complies with offering safety for threatened reporters and media."
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 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
