WiPC 2009 Resolution: Americas

The Assembly of Delegates of International PEN, meeting at its 75th International Congress in Linz, Austria, from 19-25 October 2009:

Approves the following ‘Declaration in Defense of the Freedom to Write in the Americas', published by International PEN to mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2009.

DECLARATION IN DEFENSE OF THE
FREEDOM TO WRITE IN THE AMERICAS

Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights, every citizen possesses the right to freedom of expression, which includes the right to speak and write freely and the right to seek and receive information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.

Every great achievement in literature, from fiction, poetry and drama, to essays, memoirs and journalism, is the result of the full exercise of this right.

On the 40th anniversary of the American Convention of Human Rights (also known as the Pact of San José, Costa Rica), we celebrate the impact that these rights have had on our lives and our societies, above all in the fields of literature and journalism.

However, we are deeply troubled by persistent attacks on writers and journalists in the region that violate these protections, undermine freedom of expression and imperil the right to access information and ideas circulating freely around the world.

In 2008, the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN recorded 191 attacks against writers and print journalists, the majority of which occurred in Latin America. From January 2004 to December 2008, 37 writers and print journalists were assassinated in Latin America, 20 in Mexico alone, the others in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti and Peru. Four journalists have disappeared in Mexico, while in other countries countless others have been threatened with death.

It is clear that many of these writers were attacked for their work. Writers, particularly journalists, who criticize the authorities or expose the activities of criminal gangs are frequently targeted, harassed, threatened, kidnapped and murdered for what they publish. Often those responsible for these crimes escape justice, official investigations stall or lapse into silence, and the crimes remain unpunished.

Although the culprits frequently remain unknown, it is widely accepted that non-state actors are responsible for many of these violent attacks against journalists, particularly drug traffickers, paramilitaries and other criminal groups, and even state agents operating outside of the legitimate authority of their offices.
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Regardless of the source of this violence, every government has an obligation to protect its citizens' right to freedom of expression and to investigate and prosecute anyone who infringes the laws that protect them. When those who murder and threaten writers and journalists can do so without fear of prosecution, the resulting climate of impunity undermines an entire society's right to access information.

In spite of this obligation, some governments in the Americas themselves routinely threaten writers and curtail freedom of expression. At least 26 of our colleagues are currently imprisoned in the region in violation of the laws protecting the freedom to write, 25 in Cuba and one in Ecuador.

Journalists are often charged by the authorities, sometimes under criminal libel and defamation laws, as in Colombia, where dissenting against official positions can also expose journalists to death threats. There are cases in Peru and Venezuela where false charges have been brought against journalists with the aim of silencing them. In countries including Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, authorities exert control over the publication and editing of books and the media. All of this is in violation of their citizens' right to seek and receive information of their own choosing.

By signing this "Declaration in Defense of the Freedom to Write in the Americas", we join in condemning these crimes and support International PEN's campaign to protect the rights of writers in the region. (For full details of International PEN's campaign Freedom to write in the Americas, visit: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/freedom-of-expression/campaigns).