7 September 2005
IAPA PRESSES GOVERNMENT ON JOURNALISTS' MURDERS
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has urged Mexican President Vicente Fox to make crimes against freedom of expression federal offences and to stiffen penalties for those found guilty of them.
In a meeting with the president last week, a delegation of IAPA leaders conveyed its concern over violence against media outlets and journalists, saying the situation is "leading the Mexican press to a serious state of self-censorship."
The leaders highlighted the cases of four journalists who have been murdered or disappeared in the past year for reporting on organised crime (. They said that if crimes against journalists are placed under federal jurisdiction, they should not be bound by statute of limitations.
Fox said the federal government "is seeking, through appropriate legislation, to provide increased training and resources for the police, as well as taking steps in coordination with state officials to combat organised crime."
In a separate meeting with Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, IAPA was told that an initiative has been sent to Congress calling for a constitutional amendment to place serious human rights violations under federal jurisdiction. He said it could include a clause on crimes against journalists.
IAPA was also informed that the Attorney General is in the process of naming special prosecutors in each state to handle investigations into journalists' murders.
Forty newspaper executives from northern Mexico, a region considered one of the most dangerous for journalists in the Americas, have also called on the government to give more teeth to federal authorities in combating the killing of journalists.
The executives said they planned to introduce several initiatives to support journalists and raise awareness of impunity, including holding regional seminars on conflict reporting, creating a team of reporters to investigate the murders of journalists, and organising conferences in central and southern Mexico to "provide encouragement to the press."
Visit:
- IAPA: http://tinyurl.com/8gpbu
- Impunity Campaign: http://www.impunidad.com/
- Murder, Impunity and Self-Censorship: http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_mexique_eng.pdf
- Tijuana: Free Fire Zone: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2004/tijuana/tijuana.html
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