Ecuador

Aa
74th General Assembly
Oct 19 to 22
Salta, Argentina

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WHEREAS in August 2018 the Constitutional Court declared as unconstitutional the "public service" description that had been given to communication in Ecuador

WHEREAS Ecuador's President Lenín Moreno, through Presidential Secretary Andrés Michelena, sent a message to the IAPA General Assembly being held in Salta, in which he ratified his commitment to defend a "Freedom of Expression with responsibility" and informed that amendment of the Communication Law will eliminate the Communication Superintendence and he will create a new Regulation Council whose objective will be "to regulate, develop and promote" information

WHEREAS there have decreased denunciations of news media through the use of mechanisms imposed under the Communication Organic Law and its regulation, however there continue attacks upon and threats to journalists and news media by members of social organizations and supporters of former president Rafael Correa

WHEREAS the Presidency of the Republic sent to the National Assembly the Bill for reformation of the Communication Law (LOC), which is being dealt with in the Collective Rights Commission, awaiting its second debate

WHEREAS the bill for reformation of the Communication Law (LOC) does not contain regulations that order the repeal or amendment of the Ruling for Dealing With Administrative Violations of the Communication Organic Law, which includes the mechanism of sanctions applicable to news media and journalists

WHEREAS to date government bodies continue transacting and initiating proceedings against news media, begun during the Rafael Correa government, and which are based on articles of the Communication Organic Law and its regulations

THE 74th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES

to urge the President of the Republic, once he receives the bill on the Communication Law approved by the National Assembly and before its pronouncement, that he submits the consultative opinion to the Inter-American Human Rights System in order to ensure that it complies with the international standards regarding freedom of expression and of the press

to ask the Ecuadorean government to abstain from continuing to apply economic and administrative sanctions on news media and journalists, on the basis of the in force Communication Law, which is in the process of amendment in the National Assembly because, as the bill for amendment of the law indicates, "it clearly and directly contradicts standards established in international instruments ratified by Ecuador"

to ask Ecuador's Executive Branch, being empowered to do so, to proceed to the amendment, repeal or suspension of the regulations issued by the Executive Branch of the previous government and which continue harming freedom of expression and journalistic activity.

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