
Number of LATAM projects as of March 2022
COUNTRIES | PROJECTS | |
---|---|---|
ARGENTINA | 7 | |
BRAZIL | 28 | |
CHILE | 3 | |
COLOMBIA | 14 | |
ECUADOR | 2 | |
GUATEMALA | - | |
MEXICO | 13 | |
PARAGUAY | 2 | |
PERU | 2 |
Topics bills presented between August 2021 and March 2022
Access to information | 6.9% | |
Bullying | 10.3% | |
Apologia | 5.2% | |
Freedom of expression | 8.6% | |
Equality and non-discrimination | 17.2% | |
Internet Access | 1.7% |
Privacy | 1.7% | |
Protection of minors | 15.5% | |
Reputation and honor | 5.2% | |
Content moderation | 5.2% | |
Gender Violence | 5.2% | |
Indigenous rights | 3.4% | |
Fake News | 1.7% |
Topics bills presented between August 2021 and March 2022
Access to information | 4.8% | |
Bullying | 9.5% | |
Apologia | 4.8% | |
Freedom of worship | 1.6% | |
Equality and non-discrimination | 15.9% | |
Official advertising | 4.8% | |
Fake News | 1.6% | |
Protection of minors | 14.3% | |
Reputation and honor | 4.8% | |
Content moderation | 4.8% |
02/03
Alberto Fernández announcing that it will advance a legislative initiative to reform the Intelligence Law, in response to the events that occurred with the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) dedicated to political espionage and the manipulation of the judiciary, in order to have greater control over the management of the surveillance and avoid repeating the acts of illegal espionage.
SURVEILLANCE
09/03
The Agency for Access to Public Information, entity in charge of guaranteeing and materializing the exercise of the right to public information and the promotion of transparent measures, named to the Master Beatriz de Anchorena, graduate in Political Science as the new Director of the entity.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
23/03
The Public Defender of Audiovisual Communication Services announced that it had received 750 complaints regarding opinions presented on television programs against feminist women, LGBTIQ+ communities and the trans population, generating a hate speech. One of the reported programs corresponds to “Morning” by presenting a diabolical dialogue on the air with Deputy Amalia Granata. In addition to this, the official published in her account Twitter about the legal actions it will take against Franco Torchia, journalist and activist for the rights of the LGBTIQ+ community, for the crimes of slander and insults having exposed his posición compared to what happened on the TV show.
Also the program "Vivian With You" ended up involved in the complaints after the strong statements of the presenter Viviana Canpsa against feminist movements in the framework of International Women's Day, delegitimizing their causes to protest in the streets.
HATE SPEECH DISINFORMATION CALUMNIES AND INJURIES
29/03
The Government announced an agreement to promote “The good use of social networks, that they stop intoxicating the spirit of our democracy” as a purpose of addressing the challenges involved in the exercise of citizenship through the use of the Internet. The Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz, stressed that the objective of the Pact for Information and Democracy is not to regulate this proposal through law, but to carry out studies and interpretations of the influence of social networks on democracy. A strategy they call “Networks for the common good”.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
14/03
The Court of Justice of São Paulo published a sentence in which it upheld the condemnation of the World Christian League to pay compensation for the publication of offensive content directed at the Islamic faith. The content refers to three videos of interviews with the president of the Christian League, in which he suggests closing mosques in Brazil, requiring a Christian baptismal certificate to enter the country, and the link between Islam and terrorism. According to the rapporteur of the case, the content is aimed at the universality of the followers of the Islamic religion, indicating a spirit of spreading hatred. He points out that such declarations go beyond the mere expression of critical thought, and may promote ethnic persecution and religious intolerance, which violates the constitutional right to freedom of belief.
Thus, the indemnity would represent a disincentive to the indicated conduct and would have the power to protect the diffuse right involved. The sentence confirmed by the sentence determined that the Christian League pay R$ 35.167,00 for collective moral damages, which will be reverted to the State Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Interests.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF CULTS HATE SPEECH
15/03
Danilo Gentili vs Ministry of Justice. The The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, through the National Consumer Secretariat, ordered that seven streaming platforms immediately withdraw the film “Como ser o pior estudiante da escola”, based on a book by Brazilian comedian Danilo Gentili. The order establishes that the suspension seeks to guarantee "the necessary protection for child and adolescent consumers." The Secretary of Culture, Mario Frías, had claimed on Twitter that the film defends the sexual abuse of minors, due to a scene in which an older character tries to convince two minors to masturbate him. The order imposes a daily fine of R$50 thousand for failure to comply with the determination by the platforms, beginning to take effect after five days of knowledge of the determination.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
16/03
Eduardo Bolsonaro vs Acciona. At the end of February, the Court of Justice of São Paulo granted the determination of immediate dismissal of a tweet of the federal deputy, Eduardo Bolsonaro. The publication consists of a satirized version of a 2020 video from the infrastructure company Acciona, which highlighted the hiring of female engineers to carry out works on the São Paulo metro, which ended up torn down in early February 2022. The video also accompanies the following comment: “'I always try to hire women,' but why? Are men the worst engineers? When meritocracy gives way to an ideology without scientific evidence, the result is usually not the best. In reaction to the publication, the engineers responsible for the work filed a judicial request that the content be removed, alleging in the request that the tweet "distills content of sexist stereotypes disguised as 'jokes and pranks'". Failure to remove it would cost Twitter a daily fine of R$1, with a limit of R$100.
GENDER VIOLENCE DISCRIMINATION
20/03
STF vs. Telegram. The Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, revoked the Telegram blocking order, after the company complied with the minister's determinations. Days before, on March 17, Alexandre de Moraes had determined the blocking of the messaging application throughout Brazil. The the decision required Apple and Google to remove Telegram from their app stores and internet service providers to introduce technological hurdles to make use of the app infeasible.
In addition, the decision established that individuals and legal entities that used technological subterfuges to circumvent the blockades would be subject to daily fines of R$ 100 thousand. The minister stated that Telegram did not comply with judicial decisions and did not respect Brazilian legislation, including art. 10, § 1 of the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, which establishes the obligation to provide access and connection logs to Internet applications by means of a court order. The decision ordered the blocking of Telegram, in the terms of art. 12, III of the Civil Framework, until the platform complies with the judicial decisions of the Court.
Among the judicial determinations that Telegram failed to comply with would be block accounts linked to youtuber Allan dos Santos, indicate data from these accounts, suspend transfers of the monetization of these accounts, individually indicate the earnings obtained through these channels, inform the STF about the creation of new accounts by Allan dos Santos and implement mechanisms to prevent him from creating new profiles.
The March 19, Minister Alexandre de Moraes issued a new decision, in which it determined the summons to Telegram so that the application (i) indicates an official representative in Brazil, (ii) informs measures to combat disinformation and the dissemination of fraudulent news, (iii) immediately eliminate the publications published by the president Jair Bolsonaro on his channel, and (iv) block another channel on the app. The next day, after Telegram presented a series of measures to comply with Moraes' determinations, the minister revoked the blocking order. In addition to deleting the publications and blocking the channels and profiles indicated by the STF, the application indicated a legal representative in Brazil and reported the adoption of measures to combat disinformation. To learn more about the topic, see the monthly newsletters of January y in February.
MEDIA REGULATION TECHNOLOGY REGULATION
16/03
The Constitutional Convention of Chile approves the first rules on the right to communication and digital rights. Between the end of February and during March 2022, the plenary session of the Chilean Constitutional Convention has approved the first report, presented by the Knowledge Systems Commission 7, with a set of approved standards on right to communication and digital rights, which pass to the proposal of the draft text of the new Constitution.
The proposal for a general rule on freedom of expression, which has been proposed by Commission No. 4 on Fundamental Rights, was rejected in its vote by the plenary session of the Convention in its first report, and is being reviewed so that it can be voted on again in plenary session. . Let us remember that the quorum that approves the proposals of norms is 2/3 of the 154 conventional (or simple majority).
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
24/03
Advance the cybercrime bill in Chile. The Chamber of Deputies of Chile unanimously ratified the proposal of the Mixed Commission and left the project that seeks to adapt the local regulations on cybercrimes to the Budapest Convention one step away from becoming law. The proposal, which in its previous instances received complaints from associations linked to the sector, thus finished its legislative process and was ready for enactment as a national law. In relation to this point, it is established that the Public Ministry may request information and data from telecommunications operators, with prior judicial authorization.
The Budapest Convention search homogenize the way in which countries deal with illicit acts in digital environments. In Chile, the definitive approval would also generate the modification of other legal bodies and the repeal of Law 19,223, by which criminal figures related to computing are currently typified.
CYBER CRIMES
12/03
Two years have passed since the issuance of the Legislative Decree 491 of 2020 which, within the framework of the state of emergency declared by the government due to the Covid-19 pandemic, doubled the response times for requests for access to public information. Since the issuance of the decree, the term to respond to requests for documents went from ten to twenty days and for other requests it went from fifteen to thirty days. Despite the claims of journalists and researchers and the fact that the functioning of public entities has returned to normal, the national government has refused to revoke the decree. In November 2021, a bill seeking to repeal it was approved, but this was objected to by the president.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
13/03
Elections to the Colombian Congress and interparty consultations were held to define the candidates who will participate in the first round of the presidential election. As is usual during electoral periods, according to what the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) denounced, there were two types of restrictions on the work of the press. On the one hand, prior to election day, the Ministry of the Interior issued regulation for election day that illegitimately limits journalistic work by requiring reporters to obtain "accreditation" from the National Registry to be able to cover the elections at the polling stations. This requirement ignores the national and inter-American jurisprudence that has clarified that journalism is a free exercise for which authorizations or special documents cannot be required. In addition, the Ministry's regulation required that the media only publish information confirmed only by official sources, which is a form of censorship prohibited by the Constitution. On the other hand, on election day, FLIP documented eight cases of obstruction to the work of the press, which were mostly caused by officials, public forces and candidates.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
21/03
The Congress resumed activities after three months of vacation, for the last period of sessions before the change of Congress. On March 21, the senator of the Alianza Verde Angélica Lozano he presented el bill 330 of 2022, which seeks to protect victims and complainants of sexual harassment in work and educational settings. The project establishes that employers must prevent sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence, for which it prohibits them from carrying out acts of censorship that make it difficult for victims to publicly make visible the attacks against them.
GENDER VIOLENCE AARENA
15/03
case is closed Heidy Borja v. Teleamazon. In previous issues of the bulletin we reported on the case of Judge Heidy Borja against the Teleamazonas channel. Basically it is about a judicial official who sued a channel and a journalist for uttering Reviews about her current role as a judge and about her decisions; For the official, inaccurate and pernicious opinions had been made about the judicial orders that she had issued in a controversial case.
This generated a lawsuit that was lost by the journalist and the channel in the first instance but was recently resolved by the Guayas Provincial Court. absolving the channel and the journalist in application of international standards on freedom of expression and specifically establishing that the opinions are not subject to subsequent verifications or objectivity judgments and that the judicial official, due to her quality of public authority, was subject to the greatest possible scrutiny.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
21/03
President Guillermo Lasso honors persecuted journalist. During the last week of March, the president of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso decorated journalist Emilio Palacio at the Government Palace in Quito.
This coincided with Palacio's return after more than 10 years of exile in the United States due to the political persecution of which he was a victim during the Rafael Correa government for publishing a controversial editorial. Let us remember that on September 30, 2010 there was a police revolt that led to a chaotic situation of public order throughout the Ecuadorian territory. This led to President Rafael Correa accusing the opposition of a coup d'état and appearing in a belligerent tone in a hospital full of civilians where hundreds of rebel policemen were crowded. Faced with this scenario, Emilio Palacio wrote an editorial in which he criticized the government's position during the revolts and which inflamed Rafael Correa's fury.
Later came a series of million-dollar lawsuits in the civil order and the risk of criminal lawsuits in a system totally co-opted by Rafael Correa caused Emilio Palacio to flee the country. At the end of 2021, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in his favor and declared the violation of his human rights. With a new government, Emilio Palacio has returned to the country and was decorated by President Guillermo Lasso.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS CALUMNIES AND INJURIES
10/03
The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala approved Decree 18-2022, which contains the so-called "Law for the Protection of Life and the Family". However, considering that it represented a serious setback in terms of human rights, including freedom of expression, the President of the Republic required “archive” said decree and thus avoid having to veto in case it had been sent for the corresponding sanction and publication of the law. Decree 18-2022 was effectively shelved by the Board of Directors of the Congress of the Republic, but it was reason enough for both civil society in Guatemala and the international community to refer to this action by the legislative power as something disturbing for contemplating laws clearly discriminatory.
Under the "excuse" of promoting the protection of the right to life, the family, the institution of marriage between a man and a woman, freedom of conscience and expression, and the right of parents to educate and guide their children and training them in the field of sexuality, included, among other aspects, the "prohibition of public and private educational entities from promoting in childhood and adolescence, policies or programs related to sexual diversity and gender ideology or teaching as normal sexual behaviors other than heterosexuality or that are incompatible with the biological or genetic aspects of the human being.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION DISCRIMINATION
15/03
In accordance with a ruling issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and reported in past months, in which it was considered that the State of Guatemala violates the rights of indigenous peoples in matters of community radio, the Congress of the Republic was presented with the initiative of law number 5965 entitled "Regulatory Law of Community Radios", which presupposes reforms to the General Law of Telecommunications that effectively allow the granting of the right to use radio spectrum frequencies in favor of indigenous communities. Defines as "community radios" those "linked to the exercise of broadcasting in the context of freedom of expression materialized in electromagnetic waves with coverage and programming with the Mayan, Garífuna or Xinka languages, based on the conditions of the locality and contextualized culturally. It promotes the identities, principles and values of the native peoples that make up Guatemala”.
This initiative, presented by "opposition" deputies at the end of January 2022 has not yet received a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the corresponding legislative committees, so it will be the subject of follow-up in subsequent reports in this medium.
INDIGENOUS EQUALITY ACCESS TO INFORMATION
04/03
Journalist Juan Carlos Muniz he was deprived of his life in Fresnillo, Zacatecas. The journalist, like many other people who do this job, had two jobs, one being a taxi driver, so Article 19 demanded that the state authorities apply the Approved Protocol for the Investigation of Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression to investigate this murder.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
The photojournalist Jesús Humberto González Deleija was notified by neighbors that the gate of his home was opened, this not being the first time, since recently, on February 28, his office was also opened by an unknown person. The journalist is currently a beneficiary of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. Article 19 requested the federal authorities to carry out the necessary actions to protect the photojournalist.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
08/03
In the framework of the feminist protests of 8M, in the opinion of the Front for Freedom of Expression and Social Protest, the President of the Republic in Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, made stigmatizing expressions against women protesters.
DISINFORMATION HATE SPEECH GENDER VIOLENCE
15/03
The journalist and director of the digital media Monitor Michoacán, Armando Linares Lopez was murdered. The journalist denounced previous threats and has as a precedent the homicide of his journalist colleague Roberto Toledo. Article 19 highlights the importance of inter-institutional coordination to prevent and protect journalists, and not just to investigate attacks. The protection mechanisms focused on shelters prevent the exercise of freedom of expression from continuing. Article 19 It requires the municipal, state and federal authorities not to re-victimize the victim or their relatives, as well as provide them with access to justice, comprehensive reparation and protection measures.
VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
16/03
the supreme Court of Justice of the Nation determined to dismiss the lawsuit for moral damages filed by the former governor of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira based on a column by academic and journalist Sergio Aguayo in which he expresses opinions regarding the former state official.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Derived from the acts of violence that occurred in the Querétaro Stadium grandstand during a soccer game, the Mexican Soccer Federation decided to implement a biometric registry for entering the stadiums, which in order to R3D it bears no relation to effective measures to prevent violence in stadiums.
SURVEILLANCE BIOMETRIC DATA
19/03
The Specialized Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence against Women and Trafficking in Persons of the Attorney General's Office, initiated an investigation for the crime of "apology of the crime or of some vice", against the communicator Chummel Torres, for their expressions towards Senator Bertha Caraveo. Article 19 expressed his concern because public servants are more subject to public scrutiny, and the context of the communicator's words are linked to the reported conflict of interest of the son of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. For this reason, Article 19 asked the Prosecutor's Office and the Senator to refrain from using criminal law in cases such as the one mentioned, and invites the communicator Chumel Torres to raise awareness to avoid affecting people in situations of vulnerability due to discrimination.
APOLOGY FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
24/03
The journalist and director of the portal "El Informativo", Jorge Luis Camero Zazueta was killed with a firearm. The next day, the Sonora Attorney General's Office reported that the line of investigation of the homicide is focused on drug dealing crimes, ruling out the analysis of his work as a journalist as indicated by the investigation protocol specialized in the matter. Thus, Article 19 demanded from various municipal, state and federal authorities, the diligent investigation based on the Approved Protocol for the Investigation of Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression, of the murder of C. Jorge Luis Camero Zazueta, as well as the protection of his relatives.
VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
25/02
Bill "Which requires the presentation of the health certificate for attendance at massive events, processing entry into the country and other activities established by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare." Its purpose is the implementation of requiring the presentation of the health certificate for participation in massive events, whether public or private, to process entry into the country, as well as other activities that are considered important by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare. , which will be determined in the regulations of this law.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
06/03
Cybersecurity expert points out the necesidad of a Data Protection Agency in Paraguay. Miguel Ángel Gaspar, an expert in cybersecurity, spoke about how vulnerable citizens are to espionage and the misuse that can be given to stolen data. He pointed out that the country needs a data protection law and an entity to regulate it.
SURVEILLANCE PRIVACY
09/03
Bill “Which implements the obligation to have a scanner in operation 24 hours a day, in public and private ports, which will increase efficiency in the fight against organized crime, in terms of drug trafficking, arms trafficking and smuggling”
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION SURVEILLANCE
15/03
José Luis Chilavert will go to oral trial for libel and slander. He was sued for his publications on social networks. The judge of first instance will set a date for the oral trial.
CALUMNIES AND INJURIES DEFAMATION
24/03
Judge acquits former councilor sued for slander by former mayor. The lawsuit was filed for allegedly injuring the honor and reputation of the former mayor to disclose, the former councilor, in his social networks alleged acts of corruption systematically.
CALUMNIES AND INJURIES DEFAMATION
Several Internet users of social networks reported that a spam and hacking method has resurfaced that promises to "see who visited the profile" on Twitter and that it could put at risk the cybersecurity of the personal accounts of the users of the blue bird network. The Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (Mitic), through its Cyber Incident Response Team of Paraguay, recommended be careful with applications or sites that promise to "see who visited your profile" and avoid accessing the links to protect cybersecurity.
SURVEILLANCE CYBERSECURITY PRIVACY
06/02
Se published the legal report No. 017-2021-JUS/DGTAIPD, by the National Transparency Authority, related to the events described in the journalistic report of Cuarto Poder (28/11/21), in which it is disclosed that the President of the Republic would have held clandestine meetings with various people (officials and individuals), outside the Government Palace and late at night. The report concludes that not having an official record of the visits to President Pedro Castillo, "would not constitute an infringement of the transparency regime as long as said meetings are not official or do not deal with matters of management public”.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
22/02
The journalist Enrique Chávez, host of the program "Cara a cara" of the state channel TV Perú, denounced in the air that he was separated from his position when his service order, which expired on February 28 and had been automatically updated for seven years, was not renewed. According to Chávez's testimony, this occurred after there was a directive from the press management so that neither news nor journalistic programs broadcast the note where President Pedro Castillo said that the press "is a joke."
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Extremist protesters, members of the movement known as "The Resistance", they came with banners outside the house of journalist Jaime Chincha to shout and insult him. The demonstrators carried banners with insulting phrases against the journalist, accusing him of being a "sold out to the government of President Pedro Castillo." There are several public harassments that these types of groups have been organizing against journalists and opinion leaders in recent months.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
23/02
On the occasion of the recent attacks against freedom of expression in Peru, the Peruvian Press Council, the Press and Society Institute and the National Association of Journalists of Peru officially invitede the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Pedro Vaca, to visit Peru and investigate what is happening in the country.
The events that gave rise to this letter have been the initiatives of the three powers of the Peruvian State that affect the right of Peruvians to express themselves freely and that of journalists to inform. From the Executive Power, a narrative of inflammatory rhetoric against the media has been created. From Congress, attempts are being made to increase the prison sentence for defamation. While, from the Judiciary, there have been judicial rulings that violate inter-American standards on freedom of expression, such as the conviction for defamation, in the first instance, against journalists Christopher Acosta and Jerónimo Pimentel for the book Silver as court.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
08/03
Journalists from various media Were attacked to blows, shoves and insults by demonstrators related to the government of Pedro Castillo. This took place outside the Congress of the Republic, where the presentation of the Ministerial Cabinet of Aníbal Torres was carried out to request the parliamentarians' vote of confidence.
VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
10/03
The Court of Transparency and Access to Public Information notified the Resolution 000433-2022-JUS/TTAIP-FIRST ROOM, by which the appeal filed against the refusal of the Presidential Office to deliver the list of people who met with President Pedro Castillo in a building located in the district of Breña was declared founded. In this sense, they ordered the Presidential Office to produce and deliver said registry of visits.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
15/03
Journalist Diana Falcón, reporter for RPP, was assaulted by a member of State security guarding the transfer on foot of President Pedro Castillo and members of his cabinet of ministers from the Government Palace to Congress. While the next day, March 16, 2022, security personnel of President Pedro Castillo limited press access to the activities carried out by the president during his visit to Retamas, where an avalanche occurred that left people missing and homeless.
VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS