MANDATORY
COLEGIO MEMBERSHIP
WHEREAS
the Peruvian Constitution does not require journalists to be members of a colegio
or to hold a college degree
WHEREAS
the superior court of Madre de Dios, in the Amazonian region of Ucayali, upheld
a two-year prison sentence and a ban on work as a journalist against the news
director for "The Voice of Madre de Dios" radio program, on the grounds
that the he did not hold a college degree and was not a member of the Colegio
of Peru
WHEREAS
the Judicial Oversight Office, OCMA, in March 2004 ordered an investigation
into the conduct of the court in this same criminal court ruling, imposing sanctions
on the judges involved
WHEREAS
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in its 1985 consultative opinion OC-85,
held that mandatory colegio membership or the requirement for journalists to
hold college degrees are restrictions on the exercise of freedom of speech and
of the press, protected under Article 13 of the 1969 American Convention on
Human Rights
WHEREAS
Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states, “The membership
of journalists in guilds, their affiliation to professional and trade associations
and the affiliation of the media with business groups must be strictly voluntary”
THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE
IAPA RESOLVES
to express its rejection
of the prison sentence against journalist Luis Aguirre and to call upon the
courts to overturn the ruling by the Madre de Dios superior court as unconstitutional.
