The Press Freedom Advocate Group – International PEN is calling on governments to do more to advance the cause of press freedom in the Americas, as the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day today.
The group is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the American Convention of Human Rights (also known as the Pact of San José, Costa Rica) which advocates that “every citizen possesses the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to speak and write freely and the right to seek and receive information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”
PEN International, in a release, said “we are deeply troubled by persistent attacks on writers and journalists in the region that violate these protections, undermine freedom of expression and imperil the right to access information and ideas circulating freely around the world.”
The group called for governments to do more to protect the rights of citizens to freedom of expression. The release said, “regardless of the source of this violence, every government has an obligation to protect its citizens’ right to freedom of expression and to investigate and prosecute anyone who infringes the laws that protect them.”
The body said, “while those who murder and threaten writers and journalists can do so without fear of prosecution, the resulting climate of impunity undermines an entire society’s right to access information.”
The body noted that in spite of an obligation to their citizens, some governments in the Americas themselves routinely threaten writers and curtail freedom of expression. “At least 26 of our colleagues are currently imprisoned in the region in violation of the laws protecting the freedom to write,” the release stated, while pointed out that 25 persons in Cuba and one in Ecuador found themselves in similar positions.
It pointed out that “journalists are often charged by authorities, sometimes under criminal libel and defamation laws”. According to the group, in Colombia journalists dissenting against official positions can expose themselves to death threats. There are cases in Peru and Venezuela where false charges were brought against journalists with the aim of silencing them. The control over the publication and editing of books and the media in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua was criticized by the group which added that it was a “violation of their citizens’ right to seek and receive information of their own choosing”.
Meanwhile, according to the release, “in 2008 the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN recorded 191 attacks against writers and print journalists, the majority of which occurred in Latin America.” From January 2004 to last December, 37 writers and print journalists were assassinated in Latin America. Of these 37 who were assassinated, 20 were killed in Mexico, while the others were in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti and Peru. The release added that four journalists have disappeared in Mexico, while in other countries countless had their lives threatened.
“It is clear that many of these writers were attacked for their work. Writers, particularly journalists, who criticize the authorities or expose the activities of criminal gangs are frequently targeted, harassed, threatened, kidnapped and murdered for what they publish.” Often those responsible for these crimes escape justice, official investigations stall or lapse into silence, and the crimes remain unpunished.
The release added that “although the culprits frequently remain unknown, it is widely accepted that non-state actors are responsible for many of these violent attacks against journalists, particularly dug traffickers, paramilitaries and other criminal groups, and even state agents operating outside of the legitimate authority of their offices.”