Reporters Without Borders today submitted recommendations on Chile to the UN Human Rights Council (see document below), which is due to discuss the country during the 18th Universal Periodic Review in January and February 2014, shortly after the November presidential election. This process consists of a review of human rights achievements by UN member countries and, if necessary, a reminder of their responsibilities in this area. Reporters Without Borders calls on Chile to enact new laws to...

Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned about the fate of Aníbal Barrow (picture), a journalist who was kidnapped in the northern city of San Pedro Sula on 24 June, four days ahead of the anniversary tomorrow of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. Barrow, 58, was travelling in a pickup with members of his family on the afternoon of 24 June when they were stopped by several unidentified individuals, who made Barrow’s relatives get out and then drove off...

A Lebanese bank accused of laundering money from drugs and other operations for clients tied to Hezbollah militants agreed Tuesday to pay US authorities $102 million to settle the charges. Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank was singled out in February 2011 for allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars for criminal groups and traffickers operating in Latin America, West Africa and the Middle East. Some of the customers it served were closely linked to Hezbollah, which Washington has...

Around 20 journalists have reportedly been physically attacked or injured in the past two weeks of protests in Brazilian cities against bus and subway fare hikes and the poor state of public services. The military police appear to have been responsible for most of these , which in some cases have been accompanied by arrests. But some cases were the result of hostility on the part of demonstrators towards news media covering the protests. As the protest movement has grown, fed by online...

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Britain and Ecuador have failed to break the deadlock over the unresolved asylum case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino met with British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday to search for a diplomatic solution over Assange, who has been holed up inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for almost a year. They agreed to set up a working group to work on the issue and to continue communicating. Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid...

Colombian Vice-President Angelino Garzón on Monday the United Nations to delve into reports that the Venezuelan opposition has purchased US warplanes as part of a plan to attack Venezuela from Colombia. "Considering José V Rangel's reports in Venezuela, I believe that the best Colombia can do is requesting the UN to check this," twitted Garzón, according to AFP. On Sunday, Venezuela's former vice-president José Vicente Rangel claimed that the...

The situation for freedom of information continues to be extremely tense two months after Nicolás Maduro’s election as president on 14 April. Pluralism under threat One of the most high-profile cases is that of Leocenis García , the editor of the weekly Sexto Poder , who began a hunger strike outside the headquarters of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) in Carabobo on 6 June in protest against privately-owned Atel TV’s suspension in Maracaibo (in...

Reporters Without Borders is today releasing a video interview in which Verónica Basurto Gamero, a young independent journalist who used to be based in Mexico City, explains why she had to flee abroad at the start of March. She also criticizes the new Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, which failed to protect her from dangers arising from her journalistic work. Set up in October 2012 and overseen by the interior ministry, the Federal...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the destruction of Radio AM 1080 La Voz de las Mayorías, a community radio station based in Caranavi, 160 km northeast of La Paz, on 21 May. Affiliated to the network of Radios of the Original Peoples (RPO), the station was destroyed in clashes between two rival peasant groups, the Provincial Agrarian Federation of Peasants of Caranavi (FAPCA) and the Special Agrarian Federation of Peasants of Carrasco. Accusing the station of biased reporting, a...