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WHEREAS recent months have seen an escalation in the Honduran government's harassment of media owners and executives, especially those of radio and television stations WHEREAS through the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL), media outlets were forced during an internal election campaign to air blatantly partisan simulcasts in support of a political grouping supported by the government WHEREAS the provisions in the Elections Law banning the publication of poll results prior to internal and general elections violate the freedoms of speech and information and have a discriminatory effect against most Hondurans, since these results are known among the business and political sectors, and are common knowledge outside the country, yet are unknown to most people in Honduras WHEREAS Honduras is entering its general election campaign season, and the situation remains unchanged, with no sign of the government shifting its stance in favor of free speech or freedom of the press. WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states: ? No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people? THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to reiterate its public rejection and condemnation of the government's decision to mandate national simulcasts that do not address issues of general interest to again ask President Ricardo Maduro for an end to the harassment of media owners and executives to request that the Honduran Congress repeal the legal provisions banning the publication of poll results prior to elections, as this ban violates the freedoms of speech and information and has a discriminatory effect against the majority of the people to urge the government to change its stance toward the Honduran press and to pursue a climate of harmony and liberty, where the practice of journalism may enjoy all of the guarantees that are inalienable under a democracy.
Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association. All rights reserved. . |
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