(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 9 November 2006 WPFC letter to Peruvian President García: His Excellency Dr. Alan García Pérez President of the Republic Presidential Office Plaza Mayor s/n Cercado de Lima Peru Your Excellency: On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee ( http://www.wpfc.org ) – an organization that represents 45 press freedom […]
(WPFC/IFEX) – The following is a 9 November 2006 WPFC letter to Peruvian President García:
His Excellency Dr. Alan García Pérez
President of the Republic
Presidential Office
Plaza Mayor s/n
Cercado de Lima
Peru
Your Excellency:
On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee ( http://www.wpfc.org ) – an organization that represents 45 press freedom groups from six continents – I wish to express my great concern about the congressional approval of the Bill for the creation of the Peruvian International Cooperation Agency, which contains violations to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
Bill number 27692, which has already arrived to your desk for your signature, applies onerous controls over the financial aid that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receive from foreign sources, and also restricts these entities’ freedom of association and freedom to establish financial relationships.
The bill partly justifies this flagrant meddling in the free and legal functioning of NGOs “in order for them to function within the national development policy and according to the public interest,” reads the Bill.
One of these organizations, Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), which has been morally and financially supported by WPFC on several occasions, very rightly expressed its “rejection of this new bill because it poses a grave threat to freedom of expression and freedom of the press by giving the State the power to approve the content of all programs subject to international cooperation.”
Our cooperation with IPYS has been fruitful and has made a substantial contribution to press freedom in Peru. Specifically, a few years ago, we funded the legal effort that eventually earned the freedom of four journalists who unjustly had been given long prison sentences during the regime of Alberto Fujimori. On another occasion, our letter of support, which was requested by IPYS, was instrumental for the Peruvian justice system to exonerate a journalist who had been the victim of a campaign of harassment and intimidation and unjustly accused of manufactured crimes.
Our successes during our long cooperation with IPYS were possible thanks to an independent relationship devoid of any intervention by the Peruvian State. Bill number 27692 threatens that very relationship.
What would the Peruvian State think if its vital international aid were controlled by the country’s NGOs? Peru’s good relationship with international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, constitutes a crucial component of the good functioning and development of the country. Likewise, Peruvian NGOs require independence in order to maintain a good relationship with groups such as ours, without which their exemplary work would be profoundly impeded.
Therefore, your Excellency, I urge you to refuse to sign Bill number 27692 and to use your influence on the Congress so that legislative attempts like this one that restrict freedom of expression and freedom of the press do not repeat themselves.
Respectfully,
E. Markham Bench
Executive Director
WPFC
