(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 August 2002, RSF expressed concern over the effects of the state of emergency decree (“Estado de Conmocion Interior”) on press freedom. The organisation is particularly alarmed by possible restrictions on the free movement of persons and vehicles. “Under no circumstances should such an emergency measure apply to media workers,” said RSF […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 12 August 2002, RSF expressed concern over the effects of the state of emergency decree (“Estado de Conmocion Interior”) on press freedom. The organisation is particularly alarmed by possible restrictions on the free movement of persons and vehicles.
“Under no circumstances should such an emergency measure apply to media workers,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to President Alvaro Uribe Vélez. “As the armed conflict intensifies in Colombia, it is fundamental that journalists be able to bear witness to a situation that affects the whole country.”
“Furthermore, such a decision would contradict a commitment made in the same decree to respect international treaties which Colombia has signed – including the American Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee the right to seek information, regardless of borders,” emphasised Ménard. The organisation asked the president to explain the state of emergency’s implications for press freedom.
On 11 August, the government declared a national state of emergency. The decree, which was printed in the daily “El Tiempo”, provides for “measures that may restrict the free movement of persons and vehicles”. However, it also attempts to restore respect for human rights and public freedoms according to “the guarantees sanctioned by the constitution and international treaties ratified by Colombia”.
Both the American Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in Articles 13 and 19, respectively, guarantee the “freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers”.
