Impunity Mexico

Aa
75th General Assembly
October 4-7, 2018
Coral Gables, Florida

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WHEREAS 2019 is one of the most violent years for journalism, with 11 journalists murdered, an increase in threats, the compulsory displacement of reporters and the hostility of attacks and because in many of these cases there could be involved local public officials

WHEREAS in the murders and attacks in the last two decades there prevails a high level of impunity, close to 95%

WHEREAS the only way of protecting journalists immediately, in the face of a real and serious risk, as a consequence of their professional work, is the Mechanism for the Protection for People Defending Human Rights and Journalists of the federal government and there exist some mechanisms in states, such as the case of Veracruz, but none of them counts with either a sufficient budget nor with the necessary trained staff to offer more effective results

WHEREAS self-censorship is a mechanism of self-defense of media and journalists in the face of organized crime in several areas of violence in the country, such as Veracruz, Morelos, Tabasco, Mexico State, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Oaxaca and Chiapas

WHEREAS although there exists an encouraging first response on the part of the federal authorities that investigate cases of the murders and disappearances of journalists, as well as by institutions that deal with the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the cases that the IAPA has submitted: Héctor Félix Miranda, Víctor Manuel Oropeza, Alfredo Jiménez Mota, Francisco Ortiz Franco and Benjamín Flores González, it is important that such response also comes from the local authorities

WHEREAS Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes "Freedom of expression and of the press are severely limited by murder, terrorism, kidnapping, intimidation, the unjust imprisonment of journalists, the destruction of facilities, violence of any kind and impunity for perpetrators. Such acts must be investigated promptly and punished harshly"

THE 75th GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES

to urge the Mexican government to deal on an urgent basis with the new cases of attacks on journalists and not allow that there remain in impunity the dossiers accumulated in the last two decades, propelling for it an agreement with the local governments

to demand that the Mexican government guarantee full exercise of freedom of expression, reinforcing the mechanisms of prevention and protection for journalists at a federal and state level

to ask the National Human Rights Commission to make effective the determination of victim to Alfredo Jiménez Mota, so that his family members accede to compensation for damages on the part of the Mexican government

to ask the chairman of the National Conference of Governors (Conago), Miguel Riquelme Solís, that within the framework of a potential amicable agreement in the case of Alfredo Jiménez Mota there be propelled in Sonora state the creation of an instrument of protection for journalists and encourage the same exercise in those states where this mechanism does not exist.

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