(IAPA/IFEX) – Against a background of a press freedom threatened by mistreatment of journalists and restrictive legislation, IAPA is preparing to hold its annual assembly with the participation of leaders and members of the press from throughout the hemisphere. The IAPA’s 54th General Assembly will be held at the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – Against a background of a press freedom threatened by
mistreatment of journalists and restrictive legislation, IAPA is preparing
to hold its annual assembly with the participation of leaders and members of
the press from throughout the hemisphere.
The IAPA’s 54th General Assembly will be held at the Uruguayan resort of
Punta del Este with an expected turnout of some 500 newspaper editors and
publishers, news agency representatives and prominent speakers, among them
the presidents of countries of the Mercosur free trade area — Carlos Menem
of Argentina, Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil and Julio María
Sanguinetti of the host country, Uruguay.
The main focus of the meeting will be the organisation’s concern at a new
wave of attacks on free speech and press freedom in the Americas in which in
the past year alone 25 journalists have lost their lives and governments
have sought to restrict reporting activity by clamping on new rules and
regulations. Danilo Arbilla, chairman of the IAPA Committee on Freedom of
the Press and Information, said he is concerned at this renewed onslaught on
freedom of the press. “Not only have there been more murders of journalists
in the past year, but there has been little progress made to bring the
guilty to justice, despite the support the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organization of
American States (OAS) have given to IAPA initiatives in this regard,”
Arbilla said. Arbilla, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, news magazine
“Búsqueda”, added these incidents were compounded by moves on the part of
presidents to enact legislation restricting free speech and press freedom
even further. “That is why the IAPA’s work has taken on a new dimension and
the demands for it to act are on the increase,” he declared.
Among the keynote speakers at IAPA’s 54th General Assembly will be such
world-renowned defenders of press freedom as French intellectual and
journalist Jean-François Revel and Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. In
separate presentations, each will discuss the relationship between freedom
of the press and democracy. Another major speaker will be Enrique Iglesias,
president of the Inter-American Development Bank.
