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Conference
Declaration
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Conference
Programme
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Bogota,
Colombia, 22 March 2002
For immediate release
World's Press Pays Homage to Colombian Journalists
More than 250 representatives of the world's press gathered
in Bogota, Colombia, during the weekend to pay homage to
journalists who are working in the world's most dangerous
country for their profession.
"The role of freedom of the press and of Colombian
journalists are the reasons why Colombia is still a democratic
society and has not collapsed despite the continuing violence,"
said Romulo Gonzalez, the Colombian Minister of Justice,
during the opening session Friday of the "Media in
Danger" conference.
Conference delegates, who represent international print
and broadcast media, press freedom groups, human rights
advocates, intergovernmental organisations and others, came
to Bogota to show their solidarity with their Colombian
colleagues.
"You are not alone!" said Roger Parkinson, President
of the Paris-based World Association of Newspapers, which
organised the conference with the World Editors Forum and
the Colombian newspaper association Andiarios, in partnership
with the Inter American Press Association.
The two-day conference aims to draw attention to the plight
of the Colombian press in the face of murders and kidnappings.
More than 30 journalists have been murdered in Colombia
since 1997, dozens have been kidnapped and over 100 have
fled into exile. More journalists are murdered annually
in Colombia than in any other country.
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"Impunity is a huge problem in Latin America, especially
in Colombia, where 97 percent of crimes are unpunished. This
impunity is the last stage before a collapse of the law,"
said Carlos Monsivais, a Mexican journalist who is among Latin
America's foremost cultural and political analysts.
Yet Latin American journalists do not think of themselves
as victims, he said. "They know their work will not conclude
with their physical extinction," he said in his keynote
address. "There will always be other colleagues who will
carry on."
The President of IAPA, Robert Cox, said: "The Colombian
press is one of the best in the world and Colombian journalism
has never collapsed morally or given into the pressure. It’s
more important than ever to protect Colombian journalists."
The conference included testimony from journalists in Colombia
and in exile; a panel discussion on the investigation of press
freedom abuses in Colombia and what can be done to improve
the situation; a discussion of freedom of information and
democratic society and how to protect it; and a session on
how to ensure the economic independence and viability of Colombian
newspapers.
Reporters in Colombia are the victims of left or right wing
militants, often connected to drug trafficking. All the murder
victims without exception were killed in the provinces, where
the civil conflict between the National Liberation Army (ELN)
and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is still going
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WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents
18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper
associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries,
13 news agencies and seven regional and world-wide press
groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications,
WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47
42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97
36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr
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