Impunity - Murdered - Protection

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79th IAPA General Assembly, November 9 - 12, 2023, Mexico City, Mexico

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WHEREAS, since the Mid-Year Meeting in April 2023, seven journalists have been murdered for apparent reasons related to their professional work: three in Mexico, two in Guatemala, and one each in Colombia and Haiti, and another remains missing in Mexico

WHEREAS, in Mexico, Nelson Matus Peña, director of the portal Lo Real de Guerrero, in Acapulco, Guerrero, was murdered on July 15; Luis Martín Sánchez Íñiguez, correspondent of the newspaper La Jornada, in Nayarit, who disappeared on July 5 and his body was found on July 8; and Aurelio Ramírez Hernández, journalist and contributor to Periódico Central, in Puebla, on May 23; and that the whereabouts of Juan Carlos Hinojosa Viveros, photojournalist, editor and partner of La de 8 News, in Nanchital, Veracruz, missing since July 6, is unknown; and

WHEREAS in Guatemala, Edin Frangely Alonzo López and Hugo Rolando Gutiérrez Alonzo, co-directors of the Facebook page Noticias Caballo Blanco, in Retalhuleu, were murdered on August 11

WHEREAS in Colombia, Luis Gabriel Pereira, journalist and director of the digital media Notiorense, in Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, was murdered on May 10

WHEREAS Paul Jean Marie, host of the radio program "A Voice in the Night" on Radio Lumière in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti, was murdered on May 5

WHEREAS, given the constant insecurity in which journalists carry out their work, there is little government protection and impunity for the perpetrators of the crime, which encourages violence

WHEREAS, in Chile, the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill to regulate the protection of journalists and communications workers, an initiative that the Senate must approve

WHEREAS, in Paraguay, the draft law "Protection of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders" continues to be discussed, which promotes the creation of a mechanism to prevent, protect, and procure justice and to guarantee the life, integrity, and security of persons at risk who work in both groups

WHEREAS that Principle 4 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that "murder, terrorism, kidnapping, pressure, intimidation, unjust imprisonment of journalists, material destruction of the media, the violence of any kind and impunity for aggressors severely curtail freedom of expression and of the press" and that "these acts should be promptly investigated and severely punished."

THE 79th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES

To condemn the murders of Nelson Matus Peña, Luis Martín Sánchez Íñiguez, and Marco Aurelio Ramírez in Mexico; Edin Frangely Alonzo López and Hugo Rolando Gutiérrez Alonzo in Guatemala; Luis Gabriel Pereira in Colombia, and Paul Jean Marie in Haiti

Demand that the Mexican authorities continue to intensively search for Juan Carlos Hinojosa Viveros until his whereabouts are found

Urge the governments of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and Haiti to comply with their responsibility to identify the material and intellectual authors of the murders and acts of violence and to apply the corresponding sanctions so that they do not remain unpunished

Urge the Senate of Chile to move forward with the approval of the initiative to convert into law the protection of journalists and media workers

Insist in Paraguay that the bill for the protection of journalists be approved.

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