A new law requiring mandatory licensing of journalists should be scrapped because it eliminates the constitutional right to freedom of thought, says the Inter American Press Association (IAPA).

Approved by a majority vote in the Guatemalan Congress on 30 November, the Law of Obligatory Licensing eliminates Article 35 of the constitution which states that the right to freedom of thought through any medium "cannot be restricted by law or any government regulation."

IAPA argues that the mandatory licensing of journalists goes against Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec, to which Guatemala is a signatory. "Principle 8 establishes that membership in trade associations should be strictly voluntary."