The Ombudsman issued a pronouncement in which he expressed his concern about the “Inter-institutional action protocol for the coordination and attention to journalists and social communicators in the context of disturbance of public order”, prepared by the Government of Dina Boluarte and that its purpose would be to control journalistic work in protests. The entity warned that this document does not guarantee freedom of expression and information that every democratic country requires to guarantee the proper work of the press.
“We warn that the draft security protocol for journalists in its current version does not ensure journalistic work free of violence or guarantee the effective enjoyment of freedom of expression and information,” published.
In this sense, the defense notes that they reached the Executive for this protocol, but they would not have been taken into account by the Boluarte government: “In January, we issued to the Executive our observations on the proposal for the security protocol for journalists, but we warned that these have not been accepted given their importance to materialize the duty of the State to protect journalists without any distinction”.
Therefore, it is noted that this protocol, instead of seeking to control journalistic work, should have the purpose of protecting journalists from scenes of violence or attacks by law enforcement agencies.
“We believe that said protocol should provide for immediate actions that the authority in charge of an operation should take, either to protect journalists from imminent risks of violence or from attacks by members of the security forces,” they added.
IPYS shows its concern
In this regard, the Institute of Press and Society (IPYS) described as “dangerous” for freedom of expression this protocol, which seeks to supervise and regulate journalistic work during protests that take place in the context of the political crisis, which has left more than 60 people dead in contexts of clashes between protesters and law enforcement.
“On March 1, 2023, the Government published in the official newspaper El Peruano the project called “Inter-institutional action protocol for the coordination and attention to journalists and social communicators in the context of disturbance of public order”, whose content IPYS considers “dangerous for freedom of expression, because it implies a regulation, under police supervision, of journalistic coverage of the protests,” IPYS reported in a statement.
