World Association of News Publishers


Resolution on Ecuador

Resolution on Ecuador

Article ID:

15433

Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ
FIPP – The Worldwide Magazine Media Association
Inter American Press Association, IAPA
International Association of Broadcasting, IAB
International Press Institute, IPI
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, WAN/IFRA
World Press Freedom Committee, WPFC

The Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations at its meeting held in Santiago, Chile, on July 12, 2012, adopted the following resolution by a unanimous vote of its members present: 

ECUADOR.

 

CONSIDERING:

The highest authorities of the Ecuadorian government’s continuous harassment of news media and journalists who - by exercising their legitimate right to express opinions play a critical role for democracy - shapes an environment of threat that has seriously weakened freedom of expression.

CONSIDERING:

The overuse of compulsory official broadcasts by radio and television networks and the official control of public media, as well as the seizure of private media now placed under government control, are a process that leads to establishment of a single official voice.

CONSIDERING:

Various legislative initiatives in Ecuador, among them the Communications Law and the Telecommunications Law, create serious misgivings for Freedom of Expression, as has been noted by major international organizations, especially the OAS Office of the Special Rapporteur of Freedom Expression.

CONSIDERING:

This situation is worsening because of the threat of legal and administrative proceedings against private media, like the many lawsuits against radio and television stations, the criminal suits against El Universo newspaper, the closure or non-renewals of 30 radio licenses this year and the announcement of new closures.

CONSIDERING:

That in the case of license expirations decreed against numerous radio stations, the authorities invoked non-compliance with tax duties, even though many of them had been settled.

THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE RESOLVES:

To condemn the closure or expiration of radio licenses invoking the arrears in the payment of rights or taxes.

To report that the closures infringe Article 13 of the American Convention, as they are indirect ways to restrict free expression by official abusive controls and that no tax impositions should affect the practice of Fundamental Rights recognized by the American Convention of Human Rights.

To affirm that the imposed expirations are illegitimate if the rules of due process are not respected and the actions do not comply with the American Convention of Human Rights.

To exhort the Government of Ecuador to prevent the attacks and threats against independent media and journalists and to reverse the expirations and closures of news media by granting those affected the possibility to settle their fiscal obligation in cases where they have not already done so.

Author

Andrew Heslop's picture

Andrew Heslop

Date

2012-08-06 09:34

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