European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on the Radio Caracas TV channel case in Venezuela
Date: 2007-05-24
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Venezuela, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, private media, the EU's international role

C 102 E/484

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

24.4.2008

Thursday 24 May 2007

P6_TA(2007)0216

The Radio Caracas TV channel case in Venezuela

European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on the Radio Caracas TV channel case in Venezuela

The European Parliament,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas media pluralism and freedom of expression are indispensable pillars of democracy,

B. whereas media freedom is of primary importance for democracy and respect for fundamental freedoms,
given its essential role in guaranteeing the free expression of opinions and ideas and in contributing to
people's effective participation in democratic processes,

C. whereas the non-renewal of the broadcasting licence of the private audiovisual group Radio Caracas
Televisión (RCTV), which expires on 27 May 2007, may endanger the future of a media organisation
employing 3 000 people,

D. whereas the non-renewal of the licence of this audiovisual organisation, one of Venezuela's oldest and
most important, will deprive a large section of the public of a pluralist source of information, thus
undermining the right of the press to hold the authorities to account,

E. whereas the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has announced that he is not going to renew RCTV's

broadcasting licence, which expires on 27 May 2007,

F. whereas RCTV is, according to the statements of the Venezuelan Government, the only media organisa-

tion affected by this decision concerning the non-renewal of a licence,

G. whereas Articles 57 and 58 of Venezuela's Constitution guarantee freedom of expression, communica-

tion and information,

H. whereas Venezuela is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Inter-
national Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the American Convention on Human
Rights,

I. whereas RCTV has appealed to the Venezuelan High Court of Justice, but the Court has failed to rule

within the time-limit laid down by law,

J. whereas the position with which the RCTV management is being reproached should be the subject, if

the authorities consider it necessary, of ordinary legal proceedings,

K. whereas this decision, which was publicly announced on 28 December 2006 by the Head of State

himself, thus establishes an alarming precedent for freedom of expression in Venezuela;

1.
Reminds the Government of Venezuela of its obligation to respect, and ensure respect for, freedom of
expression and opinion and freedom of the press, as it is bound to do under its own Constitution and
under the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Venezuela is a signatory;

2.
Calls on the Government of Venezuela, in the name of the principle of the impartiality of the State, to
ensure equal treatment under the law for all media, whether private or public, irrespective of all political or
ideological considerations;

24.4.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 102 E/485

Thursday 24 May 2007

3.
Calls for a dialogue between the Venezuelan Government and the country's private media, while
strongly deploring the Government's total unwillingness to engage in dialogue in general, and in the case
of RCTV in particular;

4.

Calls, therefore, on the relevant delegations and committees of Parliament to examine this issue;

5.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Secretary-General
of the Organization of American States, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, the Mercosur
Parliament and the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

P6_TA(2007)0217

Human rights in Syria

European Parliament resolution of 24 May 2007 on Syria

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

— having regard to Article 11(1) of the Treaty on European Union, which establishes the promotion of
human rights as an objective of Common Foreign and Security Policy and Article 177 of the Treaty
establishing the European Communities,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on Syria and the Middle East and to its resolution of 26 Octo-
ber 2006 containing its recommendation to the Council on the conclusion of a Euro-Mediterranean
Association Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and
the Syrian Arab Republic, of the other part (1),

— having regard to the EU Presidency statement of 14 May 2007 on the sentencing of the intellectual

Michel Kilo and the political activist Mahmoud Issa in Syria,

— having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by Syria on

21 April 1969,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas respect for human rights is an essential part of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, manifested
in a Cooperation Agreement between the EU and Syria and an Euro-Mediterranean Association Agree-
ment between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Syrian Arab
Republic, of the other part still to be finalised,

B. whereas the European Parliament and its President have already intervened several times to obtain the

release of human rights activists, politicians and parliamentarians detained in Syrian prisons,

C. whereas Michel Kilo, a militant pro-democracy writer, who was arrested on 14 May 2006, mainly
because of his position on the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, and Mahmoud Issa were sentenced on
13 May 2007 to a three-year prison term,

D. whereas Suleiman Al-Shamar,

Hussein, President of
10 years' imprisonment for ‘weakening the national ethic’ and ‘conspiring with a foreign country’,

the Public Relations Office at

leading member of the Democratic National Community, and Khalil
the Kurd Future Trend, were sentenced to

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2006)0459.