PRESS RELEASE

Nş 5/02

 

PRELIMINARY EVALUATION BY THE IACHR OF THE VISIT TO THE
BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

 

 

The Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS), Dr. Santiago A. Canton, visited the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on February 5, 6, 7, and 8 at the invitation of the Government of that country. Attached hereto is the preliminary evaluation containing general observations from the IACHR to the aforesaid State.

 

The aim of this visit was to gather information on the status of freedom of expression in Venezuela and also to conduct a preliminary evaluation in preparation for the on-site visit the IACHR will carry out in May 2002. The visit of Dr. Canton, who also serves as the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the IACHR, was, furthermore, in response to requests from various sectors of civil society concerned over recent events in that country in the area of freedom of expression. Dr. Canton will report to the Commission on the results of his visit at the 114th regular session of the Commission to take place in Washington from February 25 to March 15 of this year.

 

The IACHR is a principal organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate is to promote the observance of human rights in the Hemisphere. Its authority derives from the American Convention on Human Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments both ratified by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Executive Secretary was accompanied by attorney Milton Castillo, who handles matters pertaining to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela within the Executive Secretariat, and attorney Débora Benchoam, who works with the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Commission.

 

 

Washington, D.C., February 14, 2002



THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRESENTS HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE VISIT TO THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA

 

 

On February 8, 2002, the Executive Secretary of the IACHR and Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Dr. Santiago A. Canton, concluded his visit to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The visit lasted from February 5 to 8, 2002. Its aim was to collect information about recent publicly known events related to respect for the exercise of freedom of expression, and to prepare for the on-site visit that the IACHR will conduct in the first fortnight May of this year, at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Mr. Hugo Chávez Frias.

 

The IACHR is a principal organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate is to promote the observance of human rights in the Hemisphere. Its authority derives from the American Convention on Human Rights and the OAS Charter, instruments both ratified by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Commission is composed of seven members elected in their personal capacity by the OAS General Assembly. The Executive Secretary was accompanied by the Principal Specialist of the Secretariat, Dr. Milton Castillo, who handles matters pertaining to Venezuela at the Secretariat, and by attorney Débora Benchoam, who works with the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Commission.

 

In the course of the visit the delegation had interviews with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Luis Alfonso Dávila; the Attorney General, Dr. Isaías Rodríguez; the Ombudsman, Dr. Germán Mundarain; and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. William Lara.  They also held interviews with NGOs that belong to the organization Foro por la Vida, Bloque de Prensa Venezolano, the National Association of Journalists, the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela, Círculo Bolivariano, deputies from the Andean Parliament of the Republic of Venezuela, representatives of the media outlets La Razón, El Universal, El Nacional, Radio Caracas Televisión, Globovisión, Vale TV, Circulo Mundial, Cadenas Capriles, investigative journalists, camerapersons and photographers, petitioners of the inter-American system, and other civil society representatives from across the country.

 

Dr. Canton wishes to thank the Venezuelan authorities for permitting him to conduct his work with complete independence and autonomy, as well as their readiness to cooperate in seeking solutions to the problems posed.  The Executive Secretary also wishes to extend his gratitude to civil society representatives, media outlets, and, in particular, journalists for the important information with which they furnished him during this visit.

 

          The Special Rapporteur wishes to underscore that the right to freedom of expression comprises the right of everyone to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, a fundamental requirement for the development and strengthening of democratic societies.  Freedom of expression consolidates the other fundamental freedoms of citizens by facilitating their involvement in decision-making processes, in as much as it is a tool for ensuring a more tolerant and stable society and because it dignifies the human person through the exchange of ideas, opinions, and information.  Freedom of expression enables the conflicts inherent to all societies to be discussed and resolved without destroying the social fabric, maintaining the balance between stability and change, an essential element of democratic development.  In addition to helping to protect other fundamental rights, freedom of expression plays a key role in supervision of government administration, since it exposes abuses of power, as well as violations of the law that harm citizens.  When freedom of expression is restricted or limited, democracy loses its permanent and collective social dimension, and becomes a mere formal arrangement of institutions in which social participation is not effective.

 

Bearing in mind that freedom of expression is an indispensable requirement for democracy, the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, meeting at the Second Summit of the Americas in Chile, in 1998, made public their concern for the state of freedom of expression in their countries and supported the creation of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression.  The aforesaid mandate was ratified at the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec, in 2001.

 

          Before the visit, the IACHR and the Office of the Rapporteur received information from several national and international human rights organizations regarding the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela.  Further, in the course of this visit information was received from the authorities and many sectors of civil society, journalists and mass media outlets.

 

          In this context, full respect for the exercise of freedom of expression is one of the priorities on the agenda of the Commission when it examines the situation of human rights in a member country of the Organization of American States.  At the 114th regular session of the IACHR to be held in Washington D.C. from February 25 to March 15, the Executive Secretary will report to the members of the Commission his observations on the visit conducted in preparation for the on-site visit that the IACHR will make in the first fortnight of May this year.

 

          In the framework of cooperation between the Government and the IACHR in which this visit was conducted and in order to help enhance protection for the fundamental rights of Venezuelan citizens, the Executive Secretary, pursuant to the duties and authority of the IACHR under Article 41 of the American Convention on Human Rights, makes public his preliminary observations on the situation of freedom of expression in Venezuela:

 

1.          In its 1999 report, the Office of the Special Rapporteur expressed concern about Article 58 of the Constitution, which provides that “Everyone has the right to timely, truthful, impartial and uncensored information.[cl1]” The discussion and exchange of ideas is the principal mechanism for seeking truth and strengthening the democratic system based on plurality of ideas, opinions and information.  Principle 7 of the Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression [cl2]provides that “Prior conditioning of expressions, such as truthfulness, timeliness or impartiality is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression recognized in international instruments.  Requiring that information be truthful, timely, and so on is a kind of prior censorship prohibited in the American Convention on Human Rights.

 

2.          The Venezuelan Criminal Code and Code of Military Justice contain laws that penalize offensive expressions directed against government authorities and public officials state officials, known as “insult laws” (“desacato” laws).   The IACHR has determined that laws protecting the honor of public officials acting in their official capacity give them an unjustified right to protection that is not extended to other members of society. This distinction directly contravenes the basic principle of any democratic system, under which government is subject to controls, including public scrutiny, in order to prevent the abuse of its coercive powers.  Public officials are subject to closer scrutiny by society as a guarantee of the democratic system.

 

3.          During this visit, the Executive Secretary received information regarding the concern of many sectors of society with respect to the large number of official state-owned networks in the mass media.  The state-owned networks force mass media outlets to interrupt their scheduled programs in order to transmit information imposed on them by the government.  During the visit, the Office of the Rapporteur was able to see for himself the use of mass media outlets by the state-owned networks for a duration and with a frequency that could be construed as abusive given that the information disseminated in this way might not always be in the interest of the public.

 

4.          The Office of the Rapporteur has on several occasions given its opinion on the importance of the right to access to information as a means to strengthen democracies and ensure policies of transparency through oversight of government administration.  In a democratic system, citizens exercise their constitutional rights, inter alia, to participate in government, to vote, to education, and to associate freely, through broad freedom of expression and free access to information.  The IACHR has on various occasions mentioned the importance of adopting laws to permit effective access to information in the possession of the State.  The Office of the Rapporteur was informed about the lack of adequate mechanisms to ensure the effective exercise of this right.

 

5.          The Executive Secretary was informed of the existence of a proposed “content” law.  Some sectors expressed their concern because this bill could contain provisions that might affect the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, in particular provisions that could permit cases of prior censorship.  The Office of the Rapporteur recalls that the jurisprudence of the inter-American system has found that prior censorship upon any expression, opinion, or information, must be prohibited by law, and that only subsequent imposition of liability shall be allowed, in accordance with the provisions contained in Article 13 of the American Convention and Principle 5 of the Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression.  The Executive Secretary received a copy of a parliamentary bill that he will evaluate in due course, and he will continue closely to monitor developments in this area.

 

6.          Freedom of expression can be seriously threatened by the non-existence of effective legal remedies or by legal action taken with the aim of silencing the media.  The broad exercise of freedom of expression requires the existence of an independent and impartial judiciary to ensure effective remedies for the defense of this right.  Many sectors expressed their concern that the independence and autonomy of the judiciary might be impaired because approximately 90% of judges are provisional; that is, they lack tenure and are subject to removal.  The Office of the Rapporteur received information about legal and administrative proceedings instituted against the mass media outlets Globovisión, ValeTV and the daily La Razón, which could impair the right to freedom of expression and the right to information of the Venezuelan public.

 

7.          During the visit, the Office of the Rapporteur received information about the way in which the award of state advertising slots was used in a manner prejudicial to certain mass media outlets, inter alia, the dailies El Universal, El Nacional, Tal Cual and La Razón.  The Executive Secretary said that government agencies must establish clear, fair, and objective criteria to determine how state advertising is distributed.  In no case should state advertising be used with the intention to harm any media outlet or favor one over another.

 

8.          The Office of the Rapporteur became aware of the ongoing debate over codes of ethics.  In this regard the Office of the Rapporteur considers that journalistic ethics are fundamental for the exercise of freedom of expression.  Codes of ethics are important instruments for guiding journalists in the exercise of their profession.  However, the Office of the Rapporteur considers that codes of ethics should not be imposed by the authorities, but adopted voluntarily by the media.  Principle 6 of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression provides that “Journalistic activities must be guided by ethical conduct, which should in no case be imposed by the State.

 

9.          The relationship between mass media as an entrepreneurial activity and mass media as a journalistic activity is one of the ongoing challenges in the Americas.  The Office of the Rapporteur received information from some sectors who said that in some media outlets this distinction is not clearly defined.  The Office of the Rapporteur considers it essential to ensure the editorial independence of the mass media.

 

10.          In addition to the foregoing information the Rapporteur wishes to stress his great concern at the violence against certain journalists and mass media outlets, as detailed below

 

11.          In the course of this visit the Executive Secretary was able to observe the existence of a wide-ranging and eloquent discussion of ideas.  This discussion, on occasion excessive, according to several sectors, is unquestionably an indispensable requirement, in the opinion of the Commission, to evaluate freedom of expression.  However, freedom of expression does not only entail the possibility to express ideas and opinions, but also to express ideas freely with suffering arbitrary consequences or acts of intimidation.  The State has a duty to ensure an environment conducive to the full exercise of freedom of expression.

 

10.          In that connection, the Executive Secretariat and the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression received information about a large number of journalists, camerapersons, and photographers who have been the target in recent months of physical and verbal attacks.  The incidents recorded include threats, attacks on physical integrity, damage to professional reputations, and fear on the part of social communicators to identify themselves when they cover government events in case of reprisals. 

 

11.          In this respect, in the annual reports of the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the IACHR the attention of the Venezuelan state was called to the existence of expressions critical of the mass media and investigative journalists by high-ranking public officials, which could lead to acts of intimidation or self-censorship to the detriment of the full exercise of freedom of expression.

 

12.          The Office of the Rapporteur considers that the acts of harassment and attacks on the reputation of journalists and mass media outlets have a serious multiplier effect on violations of the human rights of the entire population.  The Office of the Rapporteur calls on the Venezuelan authorities and society at large to seek ways to reach an understanding that might lead to greater tolerance of criticism and scrutiny, and ensure the full exercise of freedom of expression and information.  Further, it mentions the need to carry out an investigation of attacks directed against journalists, in order to ensure their prevention and provide justice.

 

13.          The Office of the Rapporteur wishes to recognize the extraordinary courage, dignity, and professionalism of Venezuelan journalists, camerapersons and photographers, who, despite the intimidation endured in recent times, continue daily to carry out their work of disseminating information to the benefit of the whole of Venezuelan society and the international community.

 

          The Executive Secretary has found the authorities favorably inclined to discuss and seek solutions to the problems posed.  The IACHR and the Office of the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression will continue to provide information to the authorities on possible cases of violation of freedom of expression, and will cooperate in the search for mechanisms to facilitate an improvement in the situation of freedom of expression.

 

Dr. Canton thanks the Government of President Chávez Frias, other state authorities, as well as nongovernmental organizations and civil society institutions for their cooperation and the facilities extended in the preparation and execution of this visit.

 

Washington, D.C. February 14, 2002