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Alert

WPFC calls on President Lagos to urge Congress to eliminate "desacato" laws

(WPFC/IFEX) - The following is a 21 January 2003 WPFC letter to President Ricardo Lagos:


Jan. 21, 2003

His Excellency President Ricardo Lagos Escobar
Presidency of the Republic
La Moneda Palace
Santiago, Chile

Your Excellency:

On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee and the 44 journalistic groups it represents globally, I wish to express my profound concern about the congressional inaction on your bill no. 212-347, which aims at eliminating desacato laws from Chilean legislation.

In our last letter of October 18, we congratulated you for your courageous efforts to eliminate desacato laws, including your assigning your bill the necessary urgency for an expeditious congressional passage. Yet little or nothing has been done ever since in this respect regardless of the increased international efforts to support you in this battle.

On Dec. 16 and 17, upon your invitation, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Dr. Eduardo Bertoni visited your country on a fact-finding mission, which included meetings with top officials from the three branches of government. In his press release distributed after his visit, Dr. Bertoni pointed out that by keeping desacato laws in its books, your country "contradicts established international standards in this respect", including the American Convention on Human Rights.

"Desacato laws (?) foster abuse as a means to silence ideas and opinions, which repress debate, which is vitally important for the effective functioning of democratic institutions," insists Dr. Bertoni in his release.

On. Dec. 12, nine members of the United States Congress and of the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, sent you a letter urging you to follow the recommendations of the inter-American system to eliminate desacato laws, which "have no place in a modern democracy," the letter says. The representatives congratulate you on your efforts to eliminate desacato, but also exhort you to redouble your legislative offensive. They also urge the Chilean Congress to eliminate these laws "that fail to protect democratic values and hamper the vigorous discussion that democracy requires."

On Dec. 18, several international press freedom groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters without Borders and Human Rights Watch Americas, expressed their dismay at a prosecutor's request for a 517-day sentence for TV commentator Eduardo Yáñez. Mr. Yáñez has been indicted by Chile's Supreme Court for "insulting" the country's justice system.

Your efforts to improve Chile's press freedom atmosphere have drawn international attention. Under you leadership your country is completing a remarkable democratic transition.

But inaction on the desacato elimination front is cause for considerable concern, including ours. As we have expressed before, we believe your leadership will be crucial in convincing the Chilean Congress of the need to take prompt and decisive action in the discussion and final passage of your bill eliminating desacato. We support you fully in this endeavor.

Very truly yours,

Jim Ottaway, Jr.
Chairman