2023-05-25 16:13:48
Mexico City May 25, 2023.- Within the framework of May 25, the Day of the Journalist in Honduras, the signatory organizations express our concern about the deterioration and weakened general conditions to exercise independent journalism and the right to freedom of expression in Honduras.
Honduras is a country where freedom of expression is exercised in a context characterized by the fragility of institutions and high levels of impunity, a limited administration of justice, a current state of emergency and enormous challenges in terms of corruption, citizen security and serious human rights violations. Within this context, the right to exercise this right safely and freely is diminished, since journalists, communicators, independent media and those who exercise free expression experience an adverse environment and enormous barriers to carry out their work.
Censorship, harassment, attacks and physical assaults, the revocation of media licenses and judicial harassment, are common practices used to silence critical voices. According to reports from Human Rights Watch (2022) and of Reporters Without Borders, Honduras is one of the deadliest countries to practice journalism.
From ARTICLE 19, through the Regional Analysis on the state of freedom of expression in the Central American and Caribbean region – Barometer – it has been documented that during the first three quarters of 2022, Honduras has not been a safe country to exercise freedom of expression, derived from the existence of multiple forms of violence that seek to silence critical voices through acts of intimidation, stigmatization, judicial persecution and criminalization through the improper use of the legal system and the approval or continuation of restrictive regulatory frameworks that inhibit the free exercise journalism and free expression.
The presence of threats, attacks and acts of harassment against journalists in the digital and physical space are a common strategy of the powers and pacts of the State in their eagerness to limit criticism, freedom of expression and the work of those who practice independent journalism. , becoming often described as “adversaries and opponents of the government.”
The attacks against the press and independent journalism, which are those who critically cover issues of the country’s social reality, take place in an environment where civic space and participatory public environments are threatened due to the increase in police violence, the improper and arbitrary use of force and the criminalization of social actors who use freedom of expression and the right to social protest to express their opinions and discontent with the consolidation of authoritarian powers and the social and human rights crisis in the country. The foregoing, coupled with the practice of the Honduran State, of installing mechanisms that trigger processes of disinformation and stigmatization of journalistic work against those actors who are critical and make visible structural problems related to the high levels of impunity, corruption, and the social crisis that they generate conflicts over land and territories and serious violations of human rights.
Regarding the situation of freedom of expression in Honduras, we are mainly concerned about the weakening of Protection Mechanism created from the Protection Law for Defenders, Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Operators, characterized today by the lack of institutional commitment and political will to give life to the provisions of the law that creates it, the lack of allocation of urgent measures for the beneficiaries, the budgetary crisis and a lack of human and specialized resources that allow it to carry out its protection function, is what today makes the Protection Mechanism a weakened institution and incapable of responding to the needs of the beneficiary actors.
we join the call from the Rapporteurship on Freedom of Expression of the IACHR to the Honduran State, on the need to undertake their maximum efforts to provide a forceful institutional response regarding violence against the press and seek its cessation, in order to effectively guarantee the right of journalists and communicators to carry out their informative work in an environment free of violence and censorship.
The signatory organizations demand that the government of Xiomara Castro guarantee the exercise, security and protection of those who legitimately make use of their right to freedom of expression, association and social protest, guaranteeing their personal, physical and psychological integrity, of social communicators, communities, journalists and social actors. As well as refrain from stigmatizing, criminalizing and harassing journalists and social communicators, repealing the unconventional figures of crimes against honor that are used to criminalize journalistic work and combating impunity for crimes against journalists, strengthening the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists, Persons Human Rights and Justice Operators, endowing it with technical and budgetary capacities to adequately carry out its mandate and comply with the multiple recommendations of international organizations on the matter.
Signatory Organizations
In Loud Voice (Honduras)
ARTICLE 19 (Mexico and Central America).
Argentine Journalism Forum, FOPEA (Argentina)
National Press Association, ANP (Bolivia)
Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, Abraji (Brazil)
Association for Democracy and Human Rights – ASOPODEHU (Honduras).
Observatory of the Right to Communication, ODC. (Chili)
Foundation for Freedom of the Press, FLIP (Colombia)
Institute of Press and Freedom of Expression, IPLEX (Costa Rica)
Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and Press, ICLEP (Cuba)
FUNDAMEDIOS (Ecuador and the United States)
Association of Journalists of El Salvador, APES (El Salvador)
DEMOS Institute (Guatemala)
Committee for Free Expression, C-LIBRE (Honduras)
Foundation for Freedom of Expression and Democracy FLED (Nicaragua)
Institute of Environmental Law and Economics, IDEA (Paraguay)
Institute of Press and Society, IPYS (Peru)
Center for Archives and Access to Public Information, CA-INFO (Uruguay)
Institute of Press and Society Venezuela, IPYSVe (Venezuela)
Southern Voices Network
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