Freedom of Expression in Latin America

Law Review Symposium
Freedom of Expression in Latin America

March 29, 2010
McKenna Hall Auditorium

The symposium panelists will focus generally on three topics: (1) the decriminalization of speech, (2) coercion of and retribution against, journalists, and (3) access to information laws.

We are pleased to have three prominent members in the field of the freedom of expression and human rights as panelists.

• Catalina Botero from Colombia, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will present an overview of the state of freedom of expression in Latin America.

• Carlos Ayala from Venezuela, a former President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will discuss violence and threats against journalists in Latin America. He currently represents several journalists in their claims against Venezuela in the Inter-American human rights system.

• Christine Cervenak from the U.S., is a U.S.-trained lawyer, specializing in international law and conflict resolution, with over 20 years of experience working with international organizations, national governmental bodies, academic institutions, and local and international NGOs. For the past eight years, she was the Director of Institutional Development at the University of Chile’s Human Rights Center.

• Additionally, Professor Douglass Cassel with present a paper by Allan Brewer-Carias, who is perhaps the most distinguished constitutional lawyer in Venezuela, and is or has been Vice President of the International Association of Comparative Law, based in The Hague. He has been in exile in New York for several years, sometimes teaching at Columbia Law School, because the Chavez courts have indicted him for supposedly supporting the short-lived coup in April 2002. He will discuss the use of pretexts to deny license renewals to opposition TV stations. We also anticipate participation by professors from Notre Dame Law School.

This event is co-sponsored by the Notre Dame Law Review, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE