Dear OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs:
Ahead of the assembly of the Organization of American States on March 22, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to oppose any attempts to debilitate the regional human rights system. The failure of member states to preserve the autonomy and independence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its special rapporteur on freedom of expression would make citizens throughout the hemisphere more vulnerable to human rights violations and represent a blow to democracy in the Americas.
The OAS assembly will convene in Washington, D.C., to decide on a series of proposals to revise the regional human rights commission. Introduced by Ecuador with the stated goal of strengthening the system, the changes would in fact bar the rapporteur’s office from seeking autonomous financial support, reduce its independence by allowing member states to assert greater control, and prevent it from publishing reports on freedom of expression. The series of 53 recommendations won initial approval during the 2012 General Assembly in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
CPJ research shows the proposed changes are part of an effort launched by a group of states at odds with the commission’s role to promote and protect human rights. The charge has been led by Ecuador and supported by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA, which also includes Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Several ALBA countries have dismal press freedom records. In Ecuador, for example, the government has enacted laws to restrict free expression, smeared critics, and filed defamation suits against detractors. Its actions follow similar ones taken by Venezuela, while the Bolivian and Nicaraguan governments have promoted anti-media policies.
Countries that have been pillars of the system and should be leading its defense, including Brazil and Argentina, have instead remained silent.
In late 2012, the commission pledged to study the recommendations, consult with all actors, and make its own adjustments to the regulations. This process, as stated by the commission, will be conducted during the first half of 2013. Allowing the IACHR to examine proposals and adjust its own rules is a long-standing practice designed to insulate the body from the political influence of its member states.
During a March 11 meeting in Guayaquil between most of the signatories of the American Convention on Human Rights, the Ecuadoran government made another attempt to lobby member states to circumvent the established protocol and ultimately weaken the human rights the system. The group, led by President Rafael Correa and Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño, drafted a declaration, signed by 18 nations, in which it was agreed that the OAS would fully fund the hemispheric human rights system–which in practice could seriously restrict the functioning of the special rapporteur for freedom of expression, whose funding is largely provided by outside sources. Other aspects of the declaration could open up the statutory framework of the IACHR to a broad review and potentially weaken its structure. While the declaration does not legally bind the OAS, Nicaragua has already drafted a resolution to ensure it is part of the discussion on March 22.
For more than 50 years, the human rights system has served as the last line of defense for citizens facing abusive treatment throughout the hemisphere. It has intervened directly in cases of imminent danger–ordering governments to provide security for threatened journalists, for instance–and issued in-depth reports on systemic human rights abuses. Widely seen as an international model, the commission and its rapporteur have upheld such fundamental democratic principles as due process, separation of powers, and freedom of expression. The body has played a key role in documenting abuses committed by dictatorial regimes in the 1970s and 1980s. With democratization in the region, the system began to address the legacy of the dictatorships and their impact on democratic institutions.
At the same time, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression, created in 1997, has consistently denounced official censorship, campaigned against criminal defamation laws, and promoted access to information. Thanks to its efforts, laws criminalizing desacato, or disrespect, have been repealed in Paraguay, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Bolivia. Mexico has decriminalized defamation laws at the federal level, while Argentina eliminated libel and slander on matters of public interest.
We believe that approval of these proposals by the OAS assembly would seriously damage the independence of the commission, neutralize the work of a leader in the promotion of fundamental human rights, and strip a vital layer of protection for citizens throughout the region.
The reputation of any country with a stated commitment to human rights and freedom of expression would be seriously damaged if these changes are approved. We urge you to reject the proposals.
Sincerely yours,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
Rufus X, Krem Radio, Krem TV
ATTACKED
An unidentified assailant attacked Rufus X, host of news programs on local Krem TV and Krem Radio, outside his home in Belize City, breaking his arm with an iron rod, according to reports on the local press.
The journalist was entering through the gate that surrounds his home at 10 p.m. on October 2 when an unidentified man approached the car he was traveling in, reported the Belize City-based biweekly Amandala. The assailant then began hitting him with an iron rod. The journalist covered his face with his arm while the attacker beat him repeatedly, said local press reports. As the electronic gate began to close, the assailant ran out, leaving the iron bar behind. The journalist’s arm was broken in two places, according to reports in the local press.
In an interview with Channel 5 Belize, Rufus X said he believed the attacks were retaliation for the political stand of the radio and television stations where he works.
According to press reports, police are investigating the incident but have not made any detentions.
]]>Evan Hyde, Amandala, Krem TV, Krem Radio
THREATENED
Unidentified individuals vandalized a car owned by Hyde, host of news programs on Belize City-based TV Krem and Radio Krem and contributor to the local biweekly publication Amandala, outside his home in Belize City on September 28. According to reports in the local press, Hyde also found two explosive devices inside the vehicle.
Hyde heard gunshots outside his home at 2:30 a.m., but when he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary in the surroundings, he didn’t call the police, Amandala reported. When the journalist walked out of his house the next morning, he found the windows of his car, a Toyota Tacoma that was parked outside his property, had been smashed. Hyde told local reporters that he found two homemade bombs on the passenger’s seat.
The journalist called the police, who confirmed to the local press that there had been an attempt to light one of the explosive devices. According to news reports, police are investigating the incident but have not made any arrests yet.
Hyde, commonly known as Mose, told Channel 5 Belize that he believes the attack was a reprisal against TV and Radio Krem. However, the journalist did not give more specifics.
]]>The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about threats made against Belize journalist Melvin Flores, who fled to the United States. Flores began receiving threats and menacing telephone calls following the publication of an exposé about corruption in Belize City, the country’s largest metropolis.
Flores, 33, is a prominent investigative journalist who has written for the Belize City–based biweekly Amandala for 11 years. A citizen of Honduras and a permanent resident of Belize, Flores travels on a Honduran passport.
On January 26, Flores reported that a possibly stolen sport-utility vehicle—a Hummer, which is produced by General Motors—had arrived in Belize, allegedly with the help of government officials. U.S. Embassy sources in Belize later told Flores that the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) matched that of a Hummer in Pennsylvania.
According to Flores, the U.S. Embassy informed Belize customs officials that the Hummer was stolen. Despite the evidence, officials released the vehicle to a local businessman on January 31.
With this additional information, Flores wrote a second article that should have run on February 7, but Amandala never published the story. According to Flores, editor Russell Vellos claimed that there wasn’t space in the newspaper for the article. Vellos refused to comment on the situation.
On February 7, says Flores, two men approached his wife telling her that they needed to meet her husband in private. They later appeared to be surveilling the couple’s home. That same day, Flores received threatening telephone calls. According to local press reports, people involved in a stolen-vehicle ring were attempting to intimidate the journalist.
According to Flores, Amandala‘s publisher, Evan X. Hyde, told him that he could not protect him. The journalist left for the United States on February 10. Hyde confirmed this information today and said that if Flores felt safe enough to return to Belize, Flores would have his old job back.
In 2002, Flores published a series of articles about the illegal sale of Belizean passports. The investigations implicated Immigration Minister Maxwell Samuels, who was removed from office but later appointed transportation minister.
As an organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide, CPJ respectfully asks Your Excellency to do everything within your power to investigate the threats against Flores so that he can return to Belize and continue to pursue his work as an investigative reporter.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We await your reply.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Acting Director