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PRESS RELEASE Nş 5/02 PRELIMINARY
EVALUATION BY THE IACHR OF THE VISIT TO THE The
Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
of the Organization of American States (OAS), Dr. Santiago A. Canton,
visited the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on February 5, 6, 7, and 8 at
the invitation of the Government of that country. Attached hereto is the
preliminary evaluation containing general observations from the IACHR to the
aforesaid State. The
aim of this visit was to gather information on the status of freedom of
expression in Venezuela and also to conduct a preliminary evaluation in
preparation for the on-site visit the IACHR will carry out in May 2002. The
visit of Dr. Canton, who also serves as the Special Rapporteur for Freedom
of Expression at the IACHR, was, furthermore, in response to requests from
various sectors of civil society concerned over recent events in that
country in the area of freedom of expression. Dr. Canton will report to the
Commission on the results of his visit at the 114th regular session of the
Commission to take place in Washington from February 25 to March 15 of this
year. The
IACHR is a principal organ of the Organization of American States (OAS),
whose mandate is to promote the observance of human rights in the
Hemisphere. Its authority derives from the American Convention on Human
Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments both ratified by the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela. The Executive Secretary was accompanied by attorney
Milton Castillo, who handles matters pertaining to the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela within the Executive Secretariat, and attorney Débora Benchoam,
who works with the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Commission. Washington,
D.C., February 14, 2002
THE
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRESENTS HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE VISIT TO THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF
VENEZUELA On
February 8, 2002, the Executive Secretary of the IACHR and Special
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Dr. Santiago A. Canton, concluded his
visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The visit lasted from
February 5 to 8, 2002. Its
aim was to collect information about recent publicly known events related to
respect for the exercise of freedom of expression, and to prepare for the
on-site visit that the IACHR will conduct in the first fortnight May of this
year, at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Mr. Hugo Chávez
Frias. The
IACHR is a principal organ of the Organization of American States (OAS),
whose mandate is to promote the observance of human rights in the
Hemisphere. Its authority derives from the American Convention on Human
Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments both ratified by the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela. The Commission is composed of seven members elected
in their personal capacity by the OAS General Assembly. The Executive
Secretary was accompanied by the Principal Specialist of the Secretariat,
Dr. Milton Castillo, who handles matters pertaining to Venezuela at the
Secretariat, and by attorney Débora Benchoam, who works with the Rapporteur
for Freedom of Expression at the Commission. In
the course of the visit the delegation had interviews with the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Mr. Luis Alfonso Dávila; the Attorney General, Dr. Isaías
Rodríguez; the Ombudsman, Dr. Germán Mundarain; and the Speaker of the
National Assembly, Mr. William Lara. They
also held interviews with NGOs that belong to the organization Foro por la Vida, Bloque de
Prensa Venezolano, the National Association of Journalists, the
Confederation of Workers of Venezuela, Círculo
Bolivariano, deputies from the Andean Parliament of the Republic of
Venezuela, representatives of the media outlets La Razón, El Universal, El Nacional, Radio Caracas Televisión,
Globovisión, Vale TV, Circulo Mundial, Cadenas Capriles, investigative
journalists, camerapersons and photographers, petitioners of the
inter-American system, and other civil society representatives from across
the country. Dr.
Canton wishes to thank the Venezuelan authorities for permitting him to
conduct his work with complete independence and autonomy, as well as their
readiness to cooperate in seeking solutions to the problems posed. The Executive Secretary also wishes to extend his gratitude
to civil society representatives, media outlets, and, in particular,
journalists for the important information with which they furnished him
during this visit.
The Special Rapporteur wishes to underscore that the right to freedom
of expression comprises the right of everyone to
seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds,
a fundamental requirement for the development and strengthening of
democratic societies. Freedom
of expression consolidates the other fundamental freedoms of citizens by
facilitating their involvement in decision-making processes, in as much as
it is a tool for ensuring a more tolerant and stable society and because it
dignifies the human person through the exchange of ideas, opinions, and
information. Freedom of
expression enables the conflicts inherent to all societies to be discussed
and resolved without destroying the social fabric, maintaining the balance
between stability and change, an essential element of democratic
development. In addition to
helping to protect other fundamental rights, freedom of expression plays a
key role in supervision of government administration, since it exposes
abuses of power, as well as violations of the law that harm citizens.
When freedom of expression is restricted or limited, democracy loses
its permanent and collective social dimension, and becomes a mere formal
arrangement of institutions in which social participation is not effective. Bearing
in mind that freedom of expression is an indispensable requirement for
democracy, the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, meeting at the
Second Summit of the Americas in Chile, in 1998, made public their concern
for the state of freedom of expression in their countries and supported the
creation of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.
The aforesaid mandate was ratified at the Third Summit of the
Americas in Quebec, in 2001.
Before the visit, the IACHR and the Office of the Rapporteur received
information from several national and international human rights
organizations regarding the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela.
Further, in the course of this visit information was received from
the authorities and many sectors of civil society, journalists and mass
media outlets.
In this context, full respect for the exercise of freedom of
expression is one of the priorities on the agenda of the Commission when it
examines the situation of human rights in a member country of the
Organization of American States. At
the 114th regular session of the IACHR to be held in Washington
D.C. from February 25 to March 15, the Executive Secretary will report to
the members of the Commission his observations on the visit conducted in
preparation for the on-site visit that the IACHR will make in the first
fortnight of May this year.
In the framework of cooperation between the Government and the IACHR
in which this visit was conducted and in order to help enhance protection
for the fundamental rights of Venezuelan citizens, the Executive Secretary,
pursuant to the duties and authority of the IACHR under Article 41 of the
American Convention on Human Rights, makes public his preliminary
observations on the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela: 1.
In its 1999 report, the
Office of the Special Rapporteur expressed concern about Article 58 of the
Constitution, which provides that “Everyone has the right to timely, truthful, impartial and uncensored
information.[cl1]”
The discussion and exchange of ideas is the principal mechanism for seeking
truth and strengthening the democratic system based on plurality of ideas,
opinions and information.
Principle 7 of the Inter-American
Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression [cl2]provides
that “Prior
conditioning of expressions, such as truthfulness, timeliness or
impartiality is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression
recognized in international instruments.”
Requiring that information be truthful, timely, and so on is a kind
of prior censorship prohibited in the American Convention on Human Rights. 2.
The Venezuelan Criminal Code and Code of Military Justice contain
laws that penalize offensive expressions directed against government
authorities and public officials state officials, known as “insult laws”
(“desacato” laws). The
IACHR has determined that laws protecting the honor of public officials
acting in their official capacity give them an unjustified right to
protection that is not extended to other members of society. This
distinction directly contravenes the basic principle of any democratic
system, under which government is subject to controls, including public
scrutiny, in order to prevent the abuse of its coercive powers.
Public officials are subject to closer scrutiny by society as a
guarantee of the democratic system. 3.
During this visit, the Executive Secretary received information
regarding the concern of many sectors of society with respect to the large
number of official state-owned networks in the mass media.
The state-owned networks force mass media outlets to interrupt their
scheduled programs in order to transmit information imposed on them by the
government. During the visit,
the Office of the Rapporteur was able to see for himself the use of mass
media outlets by the state-owned networks for a duration and with a
frequency that could be construed as abusive given that the information
disseminated in this way might not always be in the interest of the public. 4.
The Office of the Rapporteur has on several occasions given its
opinion on the importance of the right to access to information as a means
to strengthen democracies and ensure policies of transparency through
oversight of government administration. In
a democratic system, citizens exercise their constitutional rights, inter alia, to participate in government, to vote, to education, and
to associate freely, through broad freedom of expression and free access to
information. The IACHR has on
various occasions mentioned the importance of adopting laws to permit
effective access to information in the possession of the State.
The Office of the Rapporteur was informed about the lack of adequate
mechanisms to ensure the effective exercise of this right. 5.
The Executive Secretary was informed of the existence of a proposed
“content” law. Some sectors
expressed their concern because this bill could contain provisions that
might affect the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, in
particular provisions that could permit cases of prior censorship.
The Office of the Rapporteur recalls that the jurisprudence of the
inter-American system has found that prior censorship upon any expression,
opinion, or information, must be prohibited by law, and that only subsequent
imposition of liability shall be allowed, in accordance with the provisions
contained in Article 13 of the American Convention and Principle 5 of the
Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.
The Executive Secretary received a copy of a parliamentary bill that
he will evaluate in due course, and he will continue closely to monitor
developments in this area. 6.
Freedom of expression can be seriously threatened by the
non-existence of effective legal remedies or by legal action taken with the
aim of silencing the media. The
broad exercise of freedom of expression requires the existence of an
independent and impartial judiciary to ensure effective remedies for the
defense of this right. Many
sectors expressed their concern that the independence and autonomy of the
judiciary might be impaired because approximately 90% of judges are
provisional; that is, they lack tenure and are subject to removal.
The Office of the Rapporteur received information about legal and
administrative proceedings instituted against the mass media outlets Globovisión,
ValeTV and the daily La Razón,
which could impair the right to freedom of expression and the right to
information of the Venezuelan public. 7.
During the visit, the Office of the Rapporteur received information
about the way in which the award of state advertising slots was used in a
manner prejudicial to certain mass media outlets, inter
alia, the dailies El Universal, El
Nacional, Tal Cual and La Razón.
The Executive Secretary said that government agencies must establish
clear, fair, and objective criteria to determine how state advertising is
distributed. In no case should
state advertising be used with the intention to harm any media outlet or
favor one over another. 8.
The Office of the Rapporteur became aware of the ongoing debate over
codes of ethics. In this regard
the Office of the Rapporteur considers that journalistic ethics are
fundamental for the exercise of freedom of expression.
Codes of ethics are important instruments for guiding journalists in
the exercise of their profession. However,
the Office of the Rapporteur considers that codes of ethics should not be
imposed by the authorities, but adopted voluntarily by the media.
Principle 6 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression
provides that “Journalistic
activities must be guided by ethical conduct, which should in no case be
imposed by the State.” 9.
The relationship between mass media as an entrepreneurial activity
and mass media as a journalistic activity is one of the ongoing challenges
in the Americas. The Office of
the Rapporteur received information from some sectors who said that in some
media outlets this distinction is not clearly defined.
The Office of the Rapporteur considers it essential to ensure the
editorial independence of the mass media. 10.
In addition to the foregoing information the Rapporteur wishes to
stress his great concern at the violence against certain journalists and
mass media outlets, as detailed below 11.
In the course of this visit the Executive Secretary was able to
observe the existence of a wide-ranging and eloquent discussion of ideas.
This discussion, on occasion excessive, according to several sectors,
is unquestionably an indispensable requirement, in the opinion of the
Commission, to evaluate freedom of expression.
However, freedom of expression does not only entail the possibility
to express ideas and opinions, but also to express ideas freely with
suffering arbitrary consequences or acts of intimidation.
The State has a duty to ensure an environment conducive to the full
exercise of freedom of expression. 10.
In that connection, the Executive Secretariat and the Office of the
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression received information about a large
number of journalists, camerapersons, and photographers who have been the
target in recent months of physical and verbal attacks.
The incidents recorded include threats, attacks on physical
integrity, damage to professional reputations, and fear on the part of
social communicators to identify themselves when they cover government
events in case of reprisals. 11.
In this respect, in the annual reports of the Office of the
Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR the attention of the
Venezuelan state was called to the existence of expressions critical of the
mass media and investigative journalists by high-ranking public officials,
which could lead to acts of intimidation or self-censorship to the detriment
of the full exercise of freedom of expression. 12.
The Office of the Rapporteur considers that the acts of harassment
and attacks on the reputation of journalists and mass media outlets have a
serious multiplier effect on violations of the human rights of the entire
population. The Office of the
Rapporteur calls on the Venezuelan authorities and society at large to seek
ways to reach an understanding that might lead to greater tolerance of
criticism and scrutiny, and ensure the full exercise of freedom of
expression and information. Further,
it mentions the need to carry out an investigation of attacks directed
against journalists, in order to ensure their prevention and provide
justice. 13.
The Office of the Rapporteur wishes to recognize the extraordinary
courage, dignity, and professionalism of Venezuelan journalists,
camerapersons and photographers, who, despite the intimidation endured in
recent times, continue daily to carry out their work of disseminating
information to the benefit of the whole of Venezuelan society and the
international community.
The Executive Secretary has found the authorities favorably inclined
to discuss and seek solutions to the problems posed.
The IACHR and the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression
will continue to provide information to the authorities on possible cases of
violation of freedom of expression, and will cooperate in the search for
mechanisms to facilitate an improvement in the situation of freedom of
expression. Dr.
Canton thanks the Government of President Chávez Frias, other state
authorities, as well as nongovernmental organizations and civil society
institutions for their cooperation and the facilities extended in the
preparation and execution of this visit. Washington, D.C. February 14, 2002 |