(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a 24 July 2006 AMARC press release: Americas, 24 July 2006 – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights considers situation of community radio stations in Central America On 19 July 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received representatives from AMARC-Latin America and the Caribbean (AMARL-LAC), to discuss the situation […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a 24 July 2006 AMARC press release:
Americas, 24 July 2006 – Inter-American Commission on Human Rights considers situation of community radio stations in Central America
On 19 July 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received representatives from AMARC-Latin America and the Caribbean (AMARL-LAC), to discuss the situation of Central American community radio stations, as well as current radio broadcasting legislation and regulations, in terms of their contribution to the exercise of freedom of expression and the right to information in the sub-region.
During the hearing, AMARC presented its report on the sub-region’s various regulatory frameworks and their impact on the citizenry’s access to communication media. This study was prepared under the Central America in Tune Programme (el Programa Centroamérica en Sintonía, CAeSI), led by AMARC-Central America (AMARC-CA) and the Latin American Association for Radio Education (Asociación Latinoamericana de Educación Radiofónica, ALER).
Salvadorean lawyer Ricardo Iglesias, who coordinated the research project, explained the legal basis under international law for the need for legislative reforms to establish more equitable and inclusive regulatory frameworks. AMARC-CA coordinator Óscar Pérez and AMARC-LAC Legislation and Right to Communication Programme director Gustavo Gómez made presentations analyzing the restrictions on the right to information in the sub-region and elsewhere in the continent.
The study determined that the regulatory frameworks for radio broadcasting in Central American countries are incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights’ postulates and the Declaration of Principals on Freedom of Expression, issued in the 108th session of the Commission. “Although international norms recognize the radio-electric spectrum as patrimony of humanity, domestic legislation and national systems for administering and monitoring its functioning ignore radio communication’s deeper, root function in terms of democracy and the promotion of development and fundamental rights.”
In all of the Central American countries, “the logic of the marketplace has been imposed on access to radio-electric frequencies and this logic is promoted by the current laws” whereby “the concessions for use of the radio-electric spectrum are granted on the basis of essentially financial criteria.”
The frequencies are auctioned to the highest bidder or sold through procedures under which the most central criteria for their assignment are economic requirements, “which limits or significantly impedes access to the spectrum and to radio broadcasting by those sectors with little economic power and by citizens’ groups, whose goals in their use of a radio frequency are the benefits to society as a whole and the social development of the communities in which the community radio stations operate.”
In a closing statement, AMARC-Guatemala national representative Ricardo Sandoval urged the Commission and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression to “continue monitoring the situation of community media and conditions for access and use of radio and television frequencies as an indicator of the state of freedom of expression in our countries” and asked them to “request that the Central American states adapt their radio broadcasting legislation to inter-American human rights standards [. . .].”
AMARC also reiterated its request that the Commission study the compatibility of the various regulatory frameworks with the American Convention on Human rights, as they did on “insult” laws. It also requested “in particular” that both the Commission and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression closely follow the status of Guatemalan community radio stations and the initiatives to amend that country’s legislation [. . .].
For that purpose, AMARC requested the Commission’s support in guaranteeing adequate conditions for the functioning of the Dialogue Roundtable, due to its repeated boycott by the Ministry of the Attorney General (Ministerio Público), which has continued to suppress the radio stations and associations participating in this process (see IFEX alerts of 11 July, 17, 10 and 8 March 2006).
During the discussion which followed AMARC’s presentation, the IACHR demonstrated interest in learning more about Guatemalan community radio stations, as well as the way in which such stations in Central America usually finance their operations. IACHR also welcomed AMARC’s suggestions that the regulatory frameworks in Central America be adjusted to meet international human rights standards, in order to combat the awarding of frequencies through auctions in which only economic criteria are taken into account, which the Commission and the Special Rapporteur considered “antidemocratic”. These actions seek to prevent the commodification of a fundamental human right.
Finally, the IACHR urged AMARC to prepare a report on specific cases on which to base international jurisprudence, and arranged with AMARC to continue the dialogue and the coordination of actions until the next public hearing.
For the full Spanish text of AMARC’s presentation to the IACHR, see: http://legislaciones.amarc.org/Presentacion_audiencia_Guate%20_jul06_.pdf
