OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONDEMNS RECENT ATTACKS AGAINST MEXICAN PRESS
Washington, D.C., February 16, 2006. The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemns the recent attacks and acts of intimidation against the exercise of the right to freedom of expression in Mexico.
Based on information received by the Rapporteurship, on February 6, 2006 two masked individuals entered the editing room of the newspaper El Mañana, and proceeded to shoot and throw a grenade, thereby seriously wounding the journalist Jaime Orozco Trey. The Office of the Special Rapporteur is concerned by this latest attack in Mexico, the latest in a series of aggressions and threats against journalists and mass means of communication outlets, that have been reported to the Rapporteurship in the past few months.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur condemns these attacks which constitute serious violations to the right of freedom of expression. Their objective is to silence the press by challenging the right of citizens to receive information. As stated in Principle 9 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, “the murder, kidnapping, intimidation of and/or threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of communications media, violate the fundamental rights of individuals and strongly restrict freedom of expression”. The Office of the Special Rapporteur reiterates that freedom of expression is essential for the consolidation of a democratic system and is indispensable for the development of public opinion. These are two crucial components to the achievement of a context where social communicators can completely fulfill their duty of informing society.
The Rapporteurship views positively the fact that these types of acts have been condemned by the highest governmental offices announcing efforts for their full investigation, such as the creation of the Fiscalía Especial para la Atencion de Delitos cometidos contra Periodistas (“Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Attention of Crimes Against Journalists”), on February 14, 2006. The Office encourages the continuation of these initiatives and recommends that local authorities implement measures to prevent the occurrence of similar acts in the future.
For more information about the Rapporteur’s Office, see the following website: http://www.cidh.org/relatoria