Unpunished crimes against journalists

Miami (August 19, 2011)—The president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), Gonzalo Marroquín, today expressed the organization’s satisfaction that more than twenty Latin American universities are committed to proposing reforms of public policies to combat the impunity surrounding crimes and violence committed against journalists.

With the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation the IAPA is bringing together 22 universities from 15 Latin American countries in Puebla, Mexico, August 25-26 for a Hemisphere Conference of Universities that will prepare recommendations for reforms in “Public Policies to Combat Impunity.” See link: http://www.impunidad.com/conferencias_pdfs.php?idioma=sp

Among other topics the Puebla meeting is expected to recommend amendments to penal codes in a number of countries, protection for the work of the press through the creation of new agencies, changes in academic curricula, and encouragement of public awareness campaigns concerning freedom of expression.

Marroquín, president of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Siglo 21, said he is “very enthusiastic about this conference; we are sure it will create a network of universities in Latin America that will collaborate to improve academic practices and help future members of the press do their job in a safer environment.”

Teams of students and professors from Communication, Law, Politics, Sociology and Social Science Schools will discuss the results of research projects they conducted in recent months coordinated by the IAPA. The research focused on the weaknesses and difficulties of the legal, academic, media and press systems in each country. The teams also focused on solutions, so various important recommendations at all levels are expected to be forthcoming.

Universities that will be represented in Puebla are: Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina; Pontificia Universidad Católica of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Centro Universitario Metodista, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Universidad Diego Portales, Chile; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Colombia; Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia; Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Ecuador; Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala; Universidad José Cecilio del Valle, Honduras; Universidad Autónoma of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico; Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, Mexico; Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico; Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores of Monterrey, Mexico; Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Mexico; Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico; Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mexico; Universidad de Ciencias Comerciales, Nicaragua; Universidad Católica, Paraguay; Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Peru; Universidad Iberoamericana, Dominican Republic, and Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Venezuela.

The IAPA expresses their gratitude to the Foundation for Freedom of Expression (Fundalex), the Puebla newspaper Síntesis and Puebla’s Benemérita Universidad Autónoma for their support of this conference.