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- Chile signs compliance agreement as part of the Inter-American Commission’s first verdict on community radio
Chile signs compliance agreement as part of the Inter-American Commission’s first verdict on community radio
Santiago de Chile y Buenos Aires, May 8, 2015.- The State of Chile and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) – on behalf of the Estrella de Mar Radio broadcasters and listeners-, signed an agreement this afternoon to implement the recommendations issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in the March 2014 background report on the «Millar and others» case.
The case highlighted the discriminatory practice of arbitrary power outages affecting the Radio, which resulted in the violation of the right to freedom of expression and equality before the law of the broadcasters and listeners of Estrella de Mar de Melinka Radio.
«The signed agreement is very important not only because it is proof of Chile’s commitment to the implementation of the decisions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights,» says the Executive Director of CEJIL, Viviana Krsticevic, «but also because it highlights a case in which, for the first time, the IACHR is focusing on the reality of community radio»
This is the first instance in which the IACHR has established standards, in a contentious case, in relation to community radio. The Commission referenced indirect censorship and national distribution of public goods and resources, as well equality and non-discrimination in the State’s distribution of those goods and resources. The criteria developed in the IACHR Report not only has implications for this specific case and for Chile, but also for other contexts and situations which may affect the exercise of freedom of expression.
By signing the agreement, Chile undertakes to implement a series of remedial measures to promote free and inclusive broadcasting in light of its commitments.
Background of the case:
Melinka is a small island that belongs to the archipelago of las Guaitecas, located in the southern region of Chile. With approximately 1,800 inhabitants, Melinka lacks infrastructure and communication with the rest of the country. This isolation means that local media fulfills an important community and social role. At the time in which the claim was being presented before the international justice system, Estrella de Mar of Melinka community radio was the only non-State media on the island and provided an important source of information to the Melinka community, ensuring communication between trade unions and neighborhood organizations in the area.
For this reason, the arbitrary decision of the local government to suspend the supply of electrical power to the Radio resulted in a violation of the freedom of expression for those who used this medium of communication.
[1] Nombre oficial del caso: Miguel Ángel Millar Silva y otros (Radio Estrella de Mar de Melinka)
