(IPA/IFEX) – The following resolutions were passed at the IPA 27th Congress, held in Berlin from 21 to 24 June 2004: IPA Congress Berlin Resolutions 24 June 2004 This 27th Congress of the International Publishers Association, meeting in Berlin from 21 to 24 June 2004, with publishers from 47 countries, passes the following Resolutions: Publishers […]
(IPA/IFEX) – The following resolutions were passed at the IPA 27th Congress, held in Berlin from 21 to 24 June 2004:
IPA Congress Berlin Resolutions
24 June 2004
This 27th Congress of the International Publishers Association, meeting in Berlin from 21 to 24 June 2004, with publishers from 47 countries, passes the following Resolutions:
Publishers call for an end to the erosion of freedom of expression and freedom to publish.
Considering that freedom of expression and freedom to publish are fundamental human rights; observing, as active day-to-day promoters and defenders of the freedom to publish, that there are increasing violations of this fundamental right around the world;
Publishers hereby call on the international community and governments:
– to protect the fundamental freedoms to write, edit, publish and read against attempts to curtail these rights under the pretext of the defence of other values, namely under misconceived interpretations of patriotism, blasphemy or national security;
– to protect publishers from the indirect instruments increasingly used to silence or control them, namely through legal harassment, i.e. through bogus trials, excessive and gratuitous inspections and the imposition of disproportionate fines, through indirect censorship, i.e. through the abuse of book numbering and banderol systems, and through excessive police brutality and raids on publishing houses;
– to join publishers in condemning religious fundamentalism of any creed where it stifles freedom of expression, cultural exchange, peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance.
IPA Background Brief:
One of IPA’s objectives is, according to its statutes, “to uphold and defend the right of publishers to publish and distribute the works of the mind in complete freedom”. National and international publishers’ organisations are continuously monitoring the situation in member and non member countries.
In the past four years IPA has been actively defending the freedom to publish by lobbying in national and international fora. Recent cases include:
– Letters of protest in countries such as China, Greece, Iran, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Turkey;
– Organising round tables at the United Nations Human Rights Commission on FTP issues;
– Conducting trial observation missions;
– Interventions against the US “OFAC” regulations;
IPA closely cooperates with the International PEN, its Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, ARTICLE 19, the World Association of Newspapers and the International Booksellers Federation.
IPA has recently become a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).
