{"id":30465,"date":"2021-04-07T19:21:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T19:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&p=30465"},"modified":"2021-04-12T19:27:04","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T19:27:04","slug":"organizations-call-for-commitment-from-congress-leaders-on-press-freedom","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/organizations-call-for-commitment-from-congress-leaders-on-press-freedom\/","title":"Organizations call for commitment from congress leaders on press freedom","content":"

Eight organizations linked to the freedoms of the press and expression filed; on Wednesday, 07\/20\/2021 (Journalist’s Day), an open letter<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0addressed to the Senate president, Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), and the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The demonstration calls for the commitment of the leaders of the National Congress to the freedom of the press and the security of journalists and communicators in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The joint document provides seven recommendations for the National Congress to act in order to make Brazil a safe environment for the press, ensuring mechanisms of transparency with easy access to\u00a0 information. He, however warns that Pacheco and Lira are on the lookout for bills in progress in the two houses that may negatively impact press freedom or restrict the work of these professionals in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The said letter was signed by <\/span>Abraji<\/b> (Brazilian<\/b> Association<\/b> of<\/b> Investigative<\/b> Journalism),<\/b><\/a> Article<\/b> 19<\/b><\/a>, Conectas Human Rights, <\/span>Intervozes<\/b>, <\/span><\/a>National<\/b> Federation<\/b> of<\/b> Journalists<\/b><\/a>, <\/span>Vladimir Herzog <\/strong><\/a>Institute<\/strong><\/a>, Committee for the Protection of Journalists<\/strong><\/a> and <\/span>Reporters<\/b> without<\/b> Borders<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal\u00a0 was\u00a0 presented on Wednesday, in a virtual meeting between representatives of these organizations and Senator Rodrigo Pacheco.<\/span><\/p>\n

The text recalls that Brazil is starting to lose sleep on\u00a0 worrying scenarios\u00a0 of growing threats, attacks on journalists, and restrictions on press freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n

All these situations contionously make the environment\u00a0 increasingly hostile to practice the profession:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDifficulty in accessing public data, judicial censorship, removal of content, threats and physical attacks, defamatory campaigns and online harassment, among others are some of the elements that make up the scenario. In addition to that, the impunity in crimes committed against journalists \u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

For organizations, “despite international commitments and guarantees established in the Federal Constitution of 1988, Brazil has failed to protect press freedom and presents risks of setbacks in relation to human rights”.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the representatives of the organizations, the objective of the meeting was to take advantage of the renewal of the leadership of the National Congress to reinforce the importance of legislative power in guaranteeing freedom of the press. In March 2020, part of the organizations had already met with the then president of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, to report concrete problems faced by entities that follow the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.<\/span><\/p>\n

Abraji is analyzing almost 40 proposals simultaneously in the two legislative houses, whose focus is related to the press and freedom of expression.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nHere are the seven recommendations sent to Congressional leaders:<\/b><\/p>\n