THE INTER-AMERICAN Press Association (IAPA) has warned that the possible adoption of a law in Paraguay that includes mandatory licensing of journalists in a trade association is a serious restriction to freedom of the press, expression and of association.
The chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzalo Marroquin, reacted to the decision of the Paraguayan House of Representatives that brought back an old debate on the project named "Law on Professional Councils and Trade Association" that establishes the mandatory membership of journalists, among other professionals.
Marroquin, editor of Prensa Libre newspaper in Guatemala, stated that "the introduction of mandatory licensing of journalists is a contradiction to the human right of freedom of expression and of the press, which includes the right to seek and disseminate information, by limiting the profession to only those who are members of the association or have a college degree."
IAPA REJECTS BILL
The bill gives the Professionals Council or Trade Association the power to decide "the issuing, renewing, suspension and cancellation of the registration to practice in the profession without which nobody can participate", and establishes the mandatory creation of association or guilds (colegios) "for each one of the professional areas of specialisation and the law requires university academic studies in creating them."
"The IAPA is respectful of all journalist associations with all kinds of professionals, educational, and trade interests, and... rejects the notion of mandatory membership in them. Several experiences have shown us that making them mandatory discriminates against journalists in the media, or foreigners or individuals from other fields. In some cases, governments have used them to manipulate, in deciding who could and could not be a journalist, transforming them into organisations of a political nature," added Marroquin.
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OPINION
The IAPA hopes that Paraguayan legislators comply with an Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 1985 that establishes the incompatibility of mandatory licensing of journalists with freedom of expression and of association. This opinion served as a basis for several countries eliminating the mandatory association for being unconstitutional, such as the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, among other countries.
The IAPA bases its position in Principle 8 of the Declaration of Chapultepec: "The membership of journalists in guilds, their affiliation to professional and trade association and the affiliation of the media with business groups must be strictly voluntary."
