The 33 journalists and media workers murdered in the Americas during 2016 represent an increase in censorship and corruption in the countries of the Americas, according to the annual report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The annual report, documents “trends and critical events,” including advances, restrictions and violations of freedom of expression in the Americas. In 2016, a “critical year for democracy in the region,” it looks at violence against journalists, capacity for social protest, use of criminal law to restrict expression, stigmatizing statements against journalists, and freedom of expression in the context of the internet.
Journalists were killed in Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, the United States, El Salvador, Peru and Venezuela in 2016. Most of the murdered journalists investigated political corruption or were leaders in their local communities. As a result, a high rate of impunity continues to affect many countries in the region, according to the study.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Office of the Special Rapporteur recorded an increase in the number of journalists and communicators killed. According to the organization, there were 27 murders of journalists in 2015, 25 in 2014, and 18 in 2013.
Even though it seems clear that these murders of journalists are directly related to the exercise of their profession, it is difficult to confirm this link in all cases due to the high level of impunity in the punishment of these crimes, the organization said.
The report - the nineteenth of the IACHR since 1997 - has three major chapters on current topics: Standards for a Free, Open and Inclusive Internet; Silenced Zones: Highly Dangerous Areas for the Exercise of Freedom of Expression; and National Case Law on Freedom of Expression.
In the report, the Office of the Special Rapporteur also emphasized the application of criminal laws to prosecute those who have published some information that offends public officials as an obstacle to freedom of expression.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur continued to follow up on the government's numerous sanctions against the media in Ecuador. This was a consequence of the application of the Organic Law of Communications, a law incompatible with international standards regarding the right to freedom of expression, the organization said.
Other obstacles to freedom of expression identified in the IACHR report are the use of stigmatizing statements against journalists and media by state authorities, and the use of direct and indirect censorship mechanisms to condition the free flow of information.
In the chapter about silenced zones, the report highlights three emblematic cases in the region: one from Tamaulipas (Mexico), Mazatenango (Guatemala) and the Paraguayan border.
These places are characterized by a sustained increase in violence against journalists, both at the level of criminal organizations and by government entities and officials, and by a high level of impunity.
In Mexico, despite the implementation of federal measures and mechanisms to protect journalists, the country remains the most dangerous in the region to practice journalism. Some peripheral regions of the country face the most serious risks.
For example, the report points to Tamaulipas as the place where violence against journalists originated in Mexico. Since the 2000s, drug cartels have launched attacks on the media and journalists. This has generated a situation of structural violence, impunity and self-censorship of the press in the state.
Despite this, the government of Tamaulipas does not have specialized agencies on crimes against freedom of expression, the Rapporteur said.
Other obstacles to exercising the right to freedom of expression in many countries of the region are the state restrictions imposed on the exercise of this right. Also, excessive use of force by police officers during social protests is an affront to this right.
Through the Rapporteurship, the IACHR has recommended to the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) that they design regulatory frameworks that protect and allow the exercise of social protest. It also proposed that they adopt special measures to protect journalists who cover situations of high social conflict, so that they are not arrested, assaulted nor have their rights violated.
The Office of the Special Rapporteur noted in its report multiple cases of intimidation and physical aggression against journalists in Venezuela during the course of their work. Some of these attacks on communicators have been caused by state security agencies such as the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin). All this happened in the context of a severe polarization between the opposition and the government of Nicolás Maduro.
In the context of a deep political, economic and social crisis, which has already taken the lives of 29 Venezuelans, the Maduro government began the process to withdraw Venezuela from the OAS on April 28.
The report also noted, with concern, the existing concentration of media, and the lack of pluralism in the media systems of several countries in the region. This reduces public debate and makes it less possible for all to express themselves, the analysis determined.
Media and the internet are vehicles for society to access and disseminate information and opinions on issues of undoubted social and political relevance, the report said.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
