[Lac] apoyo para traduccion

[Olinca Marino]

Estimad at s amig at s,

la campaña CRIS esta necesitando una traduccion, del material que a 
continuacion pego, para la semana que viene.
Algun@ de ustedes podria apoyar con esta tarea???

Abrazos
Olinca

Statement on Communication Rights

Vision and Context
Communication plays a central role in politics, economics, and culture in 
societies across the globe.  Information and communication technologies, 
together with the political will to implement communication rights, can 
provide vital new opportunities for political interaction, social and 
economic development, and cultural sustainability. The means to achieve 
these ends include universal access of all to the means of communication 
and information and to a diversity of media throughout the world.

Communication is a fundamental social process and the foundation of all 
social organization. It is more than the mere transmission of messages. 
Communication is human interaction among individuals and groups through 
which identities and meanings are shaped. Communication rights are based on 
a vision of the free flow of information and ideas which is interactive, 
egalitarian and non-discriminatory and driven by human needs, rather than 
commercial or political interests. These rights represent people’s claim to 
freedom, inclusiveness, diversity and participation in the communication 
process.
Our vision of a communication society is based upon the recognition of the 
inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all people.

While recognizing the great potential of communication in contemporary 
societies, we also draw attention to some of the problems facing full 
recognition of communication rights. The problem of political control and 
interference with freedom of expression remains a central concern. Along 
with media saturation comes a dependency upon the media for knowledge about 
the world, a dependency that is greater in times of armed conflict. At the 
same time, the influence of propaganda and censorship has never been so 
widespread.

Communication has become big global business. Many of its products and 
services are shaped by commercial goals instead of considerations based on 
the common good. The global media market is largely controlled by a small 
number of giant conglomerates, endangering the diversity and independence 
of information flows. This threat to diversity is heightened by current 
trends in international trade negotiations, which risk subjecting ‘culture’ 
to the same rules as commodities and undermining indigenous culture, 
knowledge and heritage. On the other hand, strict intellectual property 
regimes create information enclosures and pose critical obstacles to 
emerging ‘knowledge’ societies.

The exclusion of large numbers of people from the democratic political 
process due to the lack of effective means of participation is another 
challenge for communication rights. This problem is exacerbated by the 
expansion of ‘around the clock’ powers to monitor and intercept 
communications, justified in the name of security but almost universally 
abused.
New technologies and a more profound understanding of communication rights 
have the power to make information and knowledge more readily available to 
people everywhere and to transform social and political processes. However, 
much remains to be done for this to become a reality. Global communication 
remains far from universal, with most of the world’s people still excluded 
from meaningful access to communication, information and the media.
Communication Rights
With the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 
international community recognised the inherent dignity of all members of 
the human family by providing everyone with equal and inalienable rights. 
Communication rights are intrinsically bound up with the human condition 
and are based on a new, more powerful understanding of the implications of 
human rights and the role of communications. Without communication rights, 
human beings cannot live in freedom, justice, peace and dignity. The 
recognition of this universal human need has inspired us to set out a 
statement on communication rights based upon the key principles of Freedom, 
Inclusiveness, Diversity and Participation. *

Freedom
The core of communication rights is Article 19 of the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights, which proclaims: “Everyone has the right to freedom of 
expression and opinion; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions 
without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas 
through any media and regardless of frontiers.” This basic freedom is also 
recognized in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 
(Article 19), in other UN treaties, such as the Convention on the Rights of 
the Child (Article 13), and in all three main regional human rights 
instruments (Africa, the Americas and Europe).

Despite these guarantees, censorship remains a reality as humankind embarks 
on the 21st century. Political and commercial pressures on independent news 
reporting are ever-present and freedom of speech on the Internet is under 
serious threat in many parts of the world. The right to freedom of 
expression is also increasingly under threat from significantly enhanced 
State powers to monitor and intercept communications around the world. It 
is crucial that the international community adopts robust rules and 
mechanisms to secure effectively the confidentiality of private 
communications. It is therefore urgent that we renew global commitment to 
freedom of information and expression  as “the touchstone of all freedoms 
to which the United Nations is consecrated”, as stated in The United 
Nations General Assembly in Resolution 59(I), adopted at its very first 
session in 1946.

Inclusiveness
International human rights treaties include many provisions designed to 
guarantee inclusiveness, such as universal access to information and 
knowledge, universal access to education, protection of the cultural life 
of communities and equal sharing of advancements in science and technology. 
In the current global reality, however, large numbers of people are 
excluded from access to the basic means of communication, such as 
telephony, broadcasting and the Internet. Access to information about 
matters of public concern is also unduly limited, and is also very unequal 
between and within societies. True commitment to inclusiveness requires the 
allocation of considerable material and non-material resources by the 
international community and national governments to overcome these obstacles.

Diversity
Worldwide, existing forms of cultural, informational and linguistic 
diversity are seriously threatened. Diversity in culture, language and 
communication is as critical to the sustainability of the planet as the 
world’s biological and natural diversity. Communication diversity is 
crucial to democracy and political participation, to the right of all 
people to promote, protect and preserve their cultural identity and the 
free pursuit of their cultural development.
Diversity is needed at a number of levels including the availability of a 
wide range of different sources of information, diversity of ownership in 
the media and forms of access to the media that ensure that the views of 
all sectors and groups in society are heard.

Participation
International human rights stress the importance of people’s participation 
in political processes which from the perspective of communication rights 
implies the right to have one’s views taken into account. In this context, 
the equal participation of women and the participation of minorities and 
marginalized groups is particularly important. Communication is essential 
to the processes of political decision-making. As the role of media in 
modern politics expands, this should not obstruct but rather support the 
participation of people in the political process through the development of 
participatory governance at all levels

Vision and Reality
Communication rights remain for most of the world’s people a vision and an 
aspiration.  They are not a reality on the ground. On the contrary, they 
are frequently and systematically violated. Governments must be constantly 
reminded that they are legally required under the human rights treaties 
they have ratified to implement, promote and protect communication rights. 
Communication rights are the expression of fundamental needs. The 
satisfaction of these needs requires a strong political will and the 
allocation of substantial resources. Lack of commitment to such resources 
serves only to deepen the global distrust of political institutions.
At the same time, full implementation of communication rights cannot depend 
only upon governments. Civil society has a key role to play in terms of 
advocacy for rights, in terms of monitoring and exposing rights abuse and 
in terms of educating and popularising rights.
Encouraging and facilitating people to assert these rights through 
different types of social action and to use them to realize the enormous 
potential of both the old and new technologies of media and communication, 
are vital tasks for all concerned people.

We endorse this Statement as an expression of our commitment to 
communication rights and we further undertake to develop an International 
Charter on Communication Rights with the widest possible support as a 
common standard to which every individual and every organ of society should 
take action to achieve.

Geneva, 11 December 2003

* The most relevant references to communication rights in international 
human rights instruments.

On the principle of freedom:
Freedom of Expression:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 19
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 19
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 13

Protection of privacy:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 12
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 17
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 16

On the principle of inclusiveness:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Articles 19, 21, 28.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), 
Articles 13, 15.
Declaration of the Principles of International Cultural Co-operation 
(1966), Article IV (4).

On the principle of  diversity:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Articles 1 
(1), 27 .
Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (1995), Article 5.

On the principle of participation:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Articles 21, 27.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), Article 25.










LaNeta S.C.
http://www.laneta.apc.org
Información desde las organizaciones civiles en México.

LaNeta S.C. es miembro de la Asociación para el Progreso de las 
Comunicaciones, APC
http://www.apc.org
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