(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 20 June 2003 IAPA press release: The IAPA calls on Colombian Constitutional Court to reject mandatory licensing Miami (20 June 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) urges the Colombian Constitutional Court to guarantee press freedom and reject a bill requiring that Colombian journalists be licensed and have […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 20 June 2003 IAPA press release:
The IAPA calls on Colombian Constitutional Court to reject mandatory licensing
Miami (20 June 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) urges the Colombian Constitutional Court to guarantee press freedom and reject a bill requiring that Colombian journalists be licensed and have a university degree.
Rafael Molina, president of IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said that the organisation supports professional conduct in journalism, but is against compulsory licensing of journalists and any requirements for a journalism degree.
Molina, editor of the Dominican Republic-based magazine Ahora, noted that both Article 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec and Principle 6 of the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, which is based on Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, state that professional licensing should be strictly voluntary.
The IAPA also referred to the advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 1985, which stated that compulsory accreditation is contrary to press freedom and freedom of expression. Subsequently, obligatory licensing for journalists was declared unconstitutional in several countries in the Americas, including Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
Molina expressed concern that the Colombian Senate has failed to take into account objections to the bill voiced by President Alvaro Uribe in December 2002. Uribe refrained from signing the bill into law on the grounds that it violated the Constitution.
In January 2003, an IAPA international delegation to Bogotá reiterated Uribe’s position against restrictions on the practice of journalism.
Molina also noted that a 1975 law requiring journalists to be university graduates and accredited by the Education Ministry was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 1998. At the time, international press organisations welcomed the decision.
Molina is confident that the Constitutional Court will support press freedom and declare the bill unconstitutional, thus aligning itself with the opinion of the executive branch, which has told the IAPA that restrictions will not be imposed on journalists.
The IAPA mission to Colombia also welcomed the rejection of a bill put forward by legislator Juan Gómez Martínez that would have increased the penalties for defamation in cases involving journalists and media outlets.
The IAPA continues to support legislative reforms in the Western Hemisphere to decriminalise defamation.
