Fostering Free Expression.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle

THE INTER-AMERICAN Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has adopted the Inter-American Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, which spells out thirteen basic tenets related to the exchange of information and opinions.

The declaration includes principles related to access to information, censorship, confidentiality of sources, privacy laws, and media competition, among other issues. It rejects "prior censorship" in the form of government pressure to prevent the circulation of ideas or opinions and "prior conditioning" of expression based on such factors as "truthfulness, timeliness, or impartiality."

Santiago A. Canton, the Inter-American Commission's special rapporteur on freedom of expression, said the approval of the declaration "constitutes a...