The forums were designed to make university students aware of their right to free expression and its defense in accordance with the 10 principles set by the Declaration of Chapultepec.
(IAPA/IFEX) – Miami, April 19, 2010 – Access to public information, transparency, impunity and inter-American standards for press freedom are the main topics to be discussed with students in two forums the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) will hold in Peru and Bolivia this week.
The forums are designed for students from universities to meet international and local experts and become aware of their right to free expression and its defense in accordance with the 10 principles set by the Declaration of Chapultepec, drafted by the IAPA in 1994.
Known as the Ambassadors of Chapultepec Project, the IAPA, together with the Peruvian Press Council (CCP Peru) and the National Association of Newspapers (ANP Bolivia), will hold one forum at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC, Lima) and the Universidad de Aquino Boliviana (UDABOL, Santa Cruz) in which Asdrubal Aguiar, Venezuelan lawyer and academic, will address how the Inter American human rights system protects freedom of expression and press freedom in volatile situations where transparency is absent and violence and impunity for crimes against journalists have become the norm in the absence of protective institutions.
During panel presentations, journalism and law students in each country will share their perceptions of the status of press freedom and their experiences with obstacles to freedom of expression.
Joining Aguiar in Lima on Wednesday, April 21st, are Dr. Luis Bustamante Belaunde, UCP Provost; Luis Agois Banchero, President of the CPP; Alejandro Miró Quesada, Cosas Internacional; Gustavo Mohme, La República and Kela León, Director, CPP. IAPA executive director Julio Muñoz will chair the event and Dr. María Méndez will moderate the student panel.
Two days later in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in a similar event, the Bolivian National Association of Newspapers president Marcos Dipp and Erick Sanjines Chavez, Provost of the UDABOL, will host Ambassador Aguiar as well as Dr. Fernando Cuellar Núñez, Law School Dean; Pedro Rivero Jordán, El Deber, and Ricardo Trotti, Press Freedom Director, IAPA. Professor Germán Cassasa Zapata will lead the student panel.
Chapultepec Ambassadors Forums are sponsored by the McCormick Foundation. Since July 2009, IAPA has held these forums in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Caracas, and Tegucigalpa. Events are planned for Río de Janeiro, Quito and San Salvador over the next few months.
