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Alert

Supreme Court to rule on constitutionality of media law reforms

(AMARC/IFEX) - The following is a 4 May 2006 AMARC press release:

AMARC trusts that Supreme Court ruling will conform to international human rights standards

Mexico City, 4 May 2006 - Senators opposed to the reforms made to the Federal Law on Radio, Television and Telecommunications have presented a petition to the Supreme Court (Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, SCJN) on the grounds that the reforms are unconstitutional. This action represents one of the means by which potentially the negative human rights implications of these reforms - including with regard to freedom of expression - may be addressed and corrected.

The opportunity to safeguard freedom of expression in electronic media now rests with the federal judicial powers. If the SCJN rules in favor of the petition of unconstitutionality, this decision will render the modified articles of the law inactive. Those modified articles would effectively prohibit the existence of public and community media, thus violating the principle of pluralism in media and denying the most vulnerable communities the right to free expression.

For this reason, AMARC calls upon the SCJN to rule in conformity with the law, and with international human rights principles in mind, particularly regarding the right to freedom of expression.