Organization of American States
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February 12, 2002  

INTER  -  AMERICAN   COMMISSION  ON  HUMAN  RIGHTS
COMISIÓN  INTERAMERICANA  DE  DERECHOS   HUMANOS
COMISSĂO   INTERAMERICANA  DE  DIREITOS   HUMANOS
COMMISSION INTERAMÉRICAINE DES DROITS DE L'HOMME

 N°5/02 

PRESS RELEASE

 

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

PRESENTS HIS PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ABOUT HIS VISIT TO THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA 

           

The Executive Secretary of the IACHR of the Organization of American States, Dr. Santiago A. Canton, concluded his visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which took place between the 5th and the 8th of February of 2002 in response to an invitation by the Government of that country. Annexed to this document is the preliminary evaluation with the general observations of the Executive Secretary addressed to that Member State. 

The objective of this visit was the gathering of information relating to respect for the exercise of freedom of expression, as well as preparing for the on site visit that the IACHR will carry out during the first part of May of this year at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Mr. Hugo Chávez Frias. The visit of Dr. Canton, also Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, responded to the request of different sectors of civil society, which expressed their concern about recent events related to freedom of expression that have occurred in that country. The Executive Secretary will present his observations about the visit to the members of the Commission during its 114° ordinary sessions, which will take place in Washington D.C. from February 25 to March 15, with the objective of preparing for the on site visit that the IACHR will carry out during the first part of May of this year. 

The IACHR is a consultative organ of the Organization of American States (OAS) with a mandate to promote the observance of human rights in the hemisphere and whose attributes are derived from the American Convention on Human Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments ratified by Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Commission is made up of seven members elected in their individual capacities by the General Assembly of the OAS. Accompanying Ambassador Canton were Dr. Milton Castillo, Principal Specialist of the Secretariat of the IACHR responsible for Venezuelan issues, and Débora Benchoam, attorney of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. 

Washington, D.C. February 14, 2002 

 

 

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN

RIGHTS ISSUES HIS OBSERVATIONS ON HIS VISIT TO THE BOLIVARIAN

REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA 

           

On February 8, 2000, 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 took place from the 5th to the 8th of February of 2002 with the objective of gathering information about recent events relating to respect for the exercise of freedom of expression, as well as preparing for the on site visit that the IACHR will carry out during the first part of 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) with the mandate to promote the observance of human right in the hemisphere and whose attributes are derived from the American Convention on Human Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments ratified by Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Commission is made up of seven members elected in their personal capacities by the General Assembly of the OAS. Accompanying Dr. Canton were Dr. Milton Castillo, Principal Specialist of the Secretariat of the IACHR responsible for Venezuelan issues, and Débora Benchoam, attorney of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. 

During its visit, the delegation met with the Minister of Foreign Relations, Mr. Luis Alfonso Dávila; the Attorney General of the Nation, Dr. Isaías Rodríguez; the Human Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Germán Mundarain; and the President of the National Assembly, Mr. William Lara. The delegation also met with the NGO’s which are part of the organization Foro por la Vida, Bloque de Prensa Venezolano, Círculo Bolivariano, deputies of the Parlamento Andino de la República de Venezuela, representatives of the communications media La Razón, El Universal, El Nacional, Cadenas Capriles, Radio Caracas Television, Globovision, VALE TV, Circulo Mundial, investigative journalists, cameramen and photographers, petitioners before the Inter-American System, as well as with other representatives of civil society at the national level.  

Dr. Canton gratefully acknowledges the disposition of the Venezuelan authorities in allowing him to carry out his work with full independence and autonomy, and their willingness to collaborate in the search for solutions to the problems under consideration. Additionally, the Executive Secretary wishes to extend his thanks to the representatives of civil society, the communications media, and, especially, to the journalists for the important information that they provided during the visit. 

            The Special Rapporteur wishes to make clear that the right to freedom of expression includes the right of every person to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, a fundamental requisite for the development and strengthening of democratic societies. Freedom of expression consolidates the other fundamental rights of citizens by facilitating the participation of members of society in the decision-making process; by providing a tool for achieving a more tolerant and stable society; and by dignifying human beings through the exchange of ideas, opinions and information. Freedom of expression allows the conflicts that are inherent in all societies to be debated and resolved without destroying the social fabric, maintaining the equilibrium between stability and change that is fundamental for democratic development. In addition to contributing to the protection of other fundamental rights, freedom of expression plays a key role in the control of public administration, by exposing abuses of power as well as violations of the law committed to the detriment of citizens. Therefore, when freedom of expression is restricted or limited, democracy loses its social, collective and permanent dimensions, becoming simply a formal institutional arrangement in which social participation is not effective.    

            Considering that freedom of expression is a fundamental requisite of democracy, the heads of state and government of the hemisphere, during the Second Summit of the Americas, celebrated in Chile in 1998, made public their concern about the state of freedom of expression in their countries and supported the creation of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. This mandate was ratified during the Third Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec in 2001.  

Prior to the visit, the IACHR and its Office of the Special Rapporteur received information from various domestic and international human rights organizations concerning the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela. During the visit, they also received information from the authorities, a broad cross-section of civil society, journalists and communications media.           

In this context, full respect for freedom of expression is one of the priorities on the Commission's agenda when it analyzes the human rights situation in a member state of the Organization of American States. The Executive Secretary will present his observations about the visit to the members of the Commission during its 114° ordinary sessions, which will take place in Washington, D.C from February 25 to March 15, with the objective of preparing for the on site visit that the IACHR will carry out during the first part of May of this year. 

            In the context of the collaboration between the government and the IACHR in carrying out this visit and with the objective of contributing to the search for greater protection of the human rights of the citizens of Venezuela, the Executive Secretary, based on the functions and powers authorized to the IACHR by Article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights, makes public his preliminary observations regarding the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela: 

1.  In the 1999 Report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur, it expressed concern regarding the contents of Article 58 of the Constitution, which provides that "everyone has the right to timely, truthful, and impartial information." The debate and exchange of ideas is the principal mechanism to find the truth and to strengthen the democratic system based on pluralism of ideas, opinions, and information. Principal 7 of the Declaration of Principal on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR states that Prior conditioning of expressions, such as truthfulness, timeliness or impartiality, is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression recognized in international instruments. Imposing requirements of truthfulness, timeliness, or any other condition constitutes a type of prior censorship prohibited by the American Convention on Human Rights.  

2. The Venezuelan Penal Code and Code of Military Justice contain laws that penalize offensive expressions directed at state authorities and public officials, generally known as contempt or disrespect laws. The IACHR has established that laws that protect the honor of public officials in the scope of their duties unjustifiably give them a right to protection that is not available to other members of society. This distinction directly inverts the fundamental principle of democratic systems that the government is the object of controls, among them the scrutiny of the citizenry, to prevent or restrict the abuse of its coercive power. Public officials must be subject to a higher level of scrutiny by society, as a guarantee of a democratic system.  

3.  During his visit, the Executive Secretary received information from a number of sectors of civil society that demonstrated a concern about the large number of mandatory official national broadcasts in the communications media. These mandatory national broadcasts require communications media to cancel their regular programming  in order to transmit information imposed by the Government. During the visit, the Office of the Special Rapporteur was able to verify the use of such broadcasts with a duration and frequency that could be considered abusive given that the information contained in these broadcasts may not always serve the public interest.  

4.  The Office of the Special Rapporteur has stated on numerous occasions the importance of the right to access to information as a means of strengthening democracies and promoting transparency through the supervision of public administration. In a democratic system, society exercises its constitutional rights of political participation, voting, education, and association, among others, through the broad exercise of freedom of expression and access to information. The IACHR has emphasized on various occasions the importance of enacting legislation which will effectively allow for the right of access to information held by the State. The Office of the Special Rapporteur was informed of the lack of appropriate mechanisms to guarantee the effective exercise of this right.      

5.  The Executive Secretary was informed about the existence of a bill on "contents." Some groups expressed concern that this bill could contain provisions that affect the exercise of freedom of expression, in particular provisions which could allow cases of prior censorship. The Office of the Special Rapporteur recalls that the jurisprudence of the Inter-American System holds that prior censorship on any expression, opinion, or information must be prohibited by law and that only subsequent imposition of liability is permitted, in accordance with Article 13 of the American Convention and Principal 5 of the Declaration of Principals on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR. The Executive Secretary received a copy of the bill, which will be promptly evaluated. The IACHR will continue to monitor the development of this issue.   

6.  Freedom of expression can be seriously threatened by the lack of effective judicial recourse or by legal actions instituted for the purpose of silencing communications media. The full enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression requires the existence of an independent and impartial judiciary that guarantees effective recourse for the protection of this right. Numerous sectors expressed their concern that independence and autonomy of the judiciary may be affected by the fact that aproximately 90% of the provisional judges do not have guaranteed stability and may be removed. The Office of the Special Rapporteur received information about administrative actions initiated against the communications media Globovisión, Vale TV and the newspaper La Razón, which could affect the right to freedom of expression and the right to information of the Venezuelan people. 

7.  During the visit, the Special Rapporteur received information about the use of the awarding of public funds for advertising with the objective of discriminating against some communications media, among them the newspapers El Universal, El Nacional, Tal Cual y La Razón. The Executive Secretary emphasizes that state entities must establish clear, fair, and objective criteria for the distribution of public funds for advertising. In no case may public advertising funds be used to punish or reward one communications media over another.    

8.  The Office of the Special Rapporteur learned of the ongoing debate in relation to codes of ethics. Regarding this issue, the Office of the Special Rapporteur considers that media ethics are fundamental for the exercise of freedom of expression. Codes of ethics are an important instrument to aid journalists in the exercise of their profession. The Office of the Special Rapporteur considers, however, that ethics codes must not be imposed by the authorities; rather, they must be adopted voluntarily by the media themselves. Principle 6 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression establishes: Journalistic activities must be guided by ethical conduct, which should in no case be imposed by the State.   

9. The relationship between communications media as a business and media as journalistic activity is one of the existing challenges in the Americas. The Office of the Special Rapporteur received information from some sectors of Venezuelan society expressing their concern that, in some media, this distinction is not clearly defined. The Office of the Special Rapporteur believes that it is essential to guarantee the editorial independence of the media.    

10.  In addition to the information reported above, the Special Rapporteur wishes to express his serious concern regarding the violence that has been occurring against some journalists and communications media, which is detailed below.   

11.  During the visit, the Executive Secretary could observe the existence of a broad and eloquent debate of ideas. This debate, which some sectors characterized as excessive, is in the view of the Commission undoubtedly an indispensable requisite to evaluate freedom of expression. However, freedom of expression does not only imply the possibility of expressing ideas and opinions, but also the possibility of expressing ideas freely, without suffering arbitrary consequences or intimidating actions. The State is responsible for guaranteeing an environment that is conducive to the full excercise of freedom of expression.    

12.  In this sense, the Executive Secretary and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression received information that numerous journalists, cameramen and photographers have been objects of physical and verbal aggression in recent months. The incidents recorded include threats, attacks against physical integrity, professional discredit and the fear of social communicators to identify themselves when they cover government functions for fear of retaliation.  

13.  On this point, in the annual reports of the Office of the Special Rapporteur, the Venezuelan state was warned about the expressions of high-ranking public officials against communications media and investigative journalists, which could lead to acts of intimidation or self-censorship, to the detriment of the full exercise of freedom of expression.  

14. The Office of the Special Rapporteur considers that acts to harass or discredit journalists or communications media have a serious multiplier effect on violations of human rights against the entire population. The Secretary of the IACHR calls upon the Venezuelan authorities and society in general to search for means of understanding that allow for greater tolerance of criticism and scrutiny, guaranteeing the full exercise of freedom of expression and information. The Secretary also emphasizes the necessity of carrying out an investigation of aggression directed at journalists as a means of prevention and justice. 

15. The Office of the Special Rapporteur recognizes the extraordinary bravery, dignity and professionalism of the Venezuelan journalists, cameramen, and photographers who, in spite of the recent intimidating acts against them, continue their daily informative work to the benefit of all of Venezuelan society and the international community. 

The Executive Secretary and Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression has encountered a willing disposition on the part of the authorities to discuss and search for solutions to the problems posed. The IACHR and its Office of the Special Rapporteur will continue to inform the authorities about possible cases of violations of the right to freedom of expression and will collaborate to search for mechanisms that will assist in improving the situation of freedom of expression. 

Dr. Canton gratefully acknowledges the cooperation and the facilities provided by the Government of President Chávez Frias, other governmental authorities, nongovernmental organizations, and institutions of civil society in the preparation and carrying out of this visit. 

Washington, D.C. February 15, 2002

 

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