Presented during the Global Impunity Summit, New York, April 20 – 21, 2010

We will not make significant advances in the battle against crimes against journalists and the impunity surrounding them without the creation of a sense of unity and solidarity among a country’s news media and journalists. Nor will it advance without a strategy undertaken by international press freedom organizations to provide support for those two values.

It is essential that the battle to stop journalists’ murders and end impunity have a common cause and group identity that will serve as a symbol of unification and joining forces, such as has occurred in other social causes -- the fight against AIDS, breast cancer or global warming, among others.

In my 15 years working in the IAPA and its Impunity Project, which was launched in 1995, I have experienced a great deal of frustration and despair. Not only because of all the violence and the 385 murders in the last two decades, intensified by the high level of absence of justice in these cases, but also because of the lack of training and professionalism and the negligence of some media and journalists; because they are subject to a lack of defense and protection, and because of the lack of solidarity and unity that exists among many journalists and media in a country --all of which weakens the profession’s defenses.

I see legislators, judges and other state authorities as being relatively open to the influence and pressure of international groups. However, it is public opinion within a country which can exert the greatest pressure on a government when it is exercised efficiently by strong news media and press associations able to “sell” an idea. There are numerous examples of institutional strength and leadership in our countries for causes on behalf of freedom of the press – FLIP and Andiarios in Colombia, ADEPA and FOPEA in Argentina, IPyS and the Peruvian Press Council in Peru, to name just a few groups.

I believe that in countries where this unity, solidarity and corporate sense is lacking, as in the case of Mexico, few results are witnessed despite the huge efforts made and resources invested. Mexico is a country where a great deal can be done but little is in fact achieved for there are no strong press institutions or a corporate sense on the part of the leading media which could unite the will of all.

Nor is it a question of eliminating international influence and support. The need will always remain for the different and independent perspective of international associations that contribute through monitoring, investigations, training, awareness campaigns, solidarity, and placing positioning the problems before supra-governmental bodies, such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. All this is needed and complementary.

Our experience in Mexico with the IAPA, after more than a dozen regional meetings among editors, publishers and reporters, and many forums and training seminars, plus constant monitoring and investigating, is that the conditions are present to achieve the major goals. In the media and among journalists there is awareness of the weaknesses and the strengths of the profession, both on the labor front, concerning salaries and ethics, as well as of the shortcomings of the government in the administration of justice, combating crime and protecting freedom of expression. That is the diagnosis.

What is needed now more than a diagnosis is a common strategy of loyalty to the profession and public awareness of the need to safeguard freedom of expression, seeking concrete alternatives when confronted by self-censorship and organized crime.

Beyond the national or regional efforts, and in an attempt to round out an idea at this 2010 Global Impunity Summit organized by Committee to Protect Journalists in New York, I propose to seek consensus on the creation of a symbol that helps us all identify ourselves with the cause of this battle. As an idea and starting point I propose consideration of a white lapel ribbon with black type that contains the letters of various alphabets, with an “at” sign, denoting the universality and plurality of our battle.