(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 26 May 2005 IAPA press release: IAPA warns against mandatory licensing in Paraguay Miami (May 26, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) warned that the possible adoption of a law in Paraguay which would establish the mandatory licensing of journalists by a trade association is a serious […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 26 May 2005 IAPA press release:
IAPA warns against mandatory licensing in Paraguay
Miami (May 26, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) warned that the possible adoption of a law in Paraguay which would establish the mandatory licensing of journalists by a trade association is a serious restriction to freedom of the press, expression, and association.
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquín, reacted to a decision of the Paraguayan House of Representatives to revive an old debate on a bill known as the “Law on Professional Councils and Trade Associations” that stipulates the mandatory membership of journalists, and other professionals, in trade associations.
Marroquín, editor of Prensa Libre newspaper in Guatemala, stated that “the introduction of mandatory licensing of journalists contravenes the rights to freedom of expression and the press, which includes the right to seek and disseminate information, by limiting the profession to only those who are members of the association or have a university degree.”
The bill gives the Professional Council or Trade Association the power to make decisions as regards “the issuing, renewing, suspension, and cancellation of [an individual’s] registration to practice in the profession, without which one would not be permitted to practice” and stipulates the mandatory creation of associations or guilds (colegios) “for each one of a number of professional areas of specialization and for which the law requires university-level academic studies.”
“The IAPA is respectful of all journalists’ associations and organizations that focus on any number of professional, educational and trade interests, and only rejects the notion of mandatory membership in these groups. Several experiences have shown us that making membership mandatory discriminates against journalists and people who want to work in the media, foreigners or individuals from other fields. In some cases, governments have taken advantage of such restrictions in the past to decide who could and could not practice as a journalist, therefore transforming them into organizations of a political nature,” added Marroquín.
The IAPA hopes that Paraguayan legislators will comply with an Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued in 1985, which establishes the incompatibility of mandatory licensing of journalists with freedom of expression and of association. This opinion served as the basis for the decision of a number of countries, including the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, to declare the mandatory licensing of journalists unconstitutional.
The IAPA outlines its position in Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec, which states, “The membership of journalists in guilds, their affiliation to professional and trade associations and the affiliation of the media with business groups must be strictly voluntary.”
