Freedom of Expression
Principal Activities of the Office in 2001
1. Promotion and Dissemination Activities
The following are the principal promotion and dissemination activities carried out by the Office of the Special Rapporteur in 2001.
In January 2001, the Special Rapporteur took part in the Conference on the Role of a Free Press and Freedom of Expression in the Development and Consolidation of Democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean, to which he was invited by the University of Miami, Florida. At that Conference, the Special Rapporteur described the principal activities of his Office and discussed the general status of freedom of expression in the Americas.
In March, the Special Rapporteur was asked to be a panelist at the Mid-Year Meeting of the Inter-American Press Association held in Fortaleza, Brazil. In April, he participated in the 111th special session of the IACHR in Santiago, Chile. On April 19-23, the Special Rapporteur attended the Third Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City, Canada. At that Summit, the Heads of State and Government ratified the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and added the following: “[Our Governments will] Continue to support the work of the inter-American human rights system in the area of freedom of expression through the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR, as well as proceed with the dissemination of comparative jurisprudence, and seek to ensure that national legislation on freedom of expression is consistent with international legal obligations.”
On the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, in May the Special Rapporteur was invited by UNESCO to take part in the commemorative conference in Windhoek, Namibia, which was attended by the principal organizations devoted to the defense of freedom of expression. The central theme of the conference was evaluation of the status of freedom of expression in the world and the challenges ahead. In May, the Special Rapporteur traveled to Quito, Ecuador to take part in the conference Freedom of Expression in America, organized by the Postgraduate School of International Studies of the CentralUniversity. During that same month, Dr. Canton also took part, along with senior members of the IACHR, in the Third Argentine Seminar on Supranational Legality. That seminar was held in Córdoba, Argentina, organized by that city’s Bar Association. At both meetings, the Special Rapporteur described the general status of freedom of expression in the Americas and the principal concerns of his Office in this area.
In June, the Special Rapporteur, together with other senior members of the IACHR, took part in the OAS General Assembly held in San José, Costa Rica. In response to an invitation by the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, Dr. Canton was a panelist, specializing in freedom of expression, in the Institute’s annual Interdisciplinary Course in Human Rights.
In November 2001, Dr. Santiago Canton took part in the International Seminar for the Promotion of Freedom of Expression organized by Article XIX in London . There, he had the opportunity to meet for the fourth time with the other two rapporteurs on freedom of expression in the world, Abid Hussain (UN) and Freimut Duve (OSCE). At the end of the seminar, the three Rapporteurs issued a joint declaration on challenges to freedom of expression in the new century, including countering terrorism, regulating the Internet, and regulating broadcasting.
In August 2001, Dr. Santiago Canton took office as Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. At its 114th regular session, the IACHR announced a competition for the post of Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. After evaluating all the applications and having interviewed several of the candidates, the Commission appointed Dr. Eduardo Bertoni, who will take up the post on May 2002.
2. Country visits
In June 2001, the Commission conducted an on-site visit to Panama, in which Dr. Santiago A. Canton participated as Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. In December 2001, the Commission conducted an on-site mission to Colombia, in which the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression participated. In both these visits, reported on in Chapter II of this Report, activities and meetings took place with government authorities, the media, organizations devoted to the defense of freedom of expression, and other bodies in civil society, for the purpose of gathering information and analyzing the status of freedom of expression in those countries.