[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 209 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 209

Expressing concern over interference with freedom of the press and the 
      independence of judicial and electoral institutions in Peru.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 29, 1999

Mr. Helms (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Coverdell, Mr. Dodd, Mr. DeWine, 
    and Mr. Jeffords) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing concern over interference with freedom of the press and the 
      independence of judicial and electoral institutions in Peru.

Whereas the independence of Peru's legislative and judicial branches has been 
        brought into question by the May 29, 1997, dismissal of 3 Constitutional 
        Tribunal magistrates;
Whereas Peru's National Council of Magistrates and the National Election Board 
        have been manipulated by President Alberto Fujimori and his allies so he 
        can seek a third term in office;
Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 
        1998, dated February 26, 1999, concludes, with respect to Peru, that 
        ``government intelligence agents allegedly orchestrated a campaign of 
        spurious attacks by the tabloid press against a handful of publishers 
        and investigative journalists in the strongly pro-opposition daily La 
        Republica and the other print outlets and electronic media'';
Whereas the Department of State's Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 
        1997, dated January 30, 1998, states that Channel 2 television station 
        reporters in Peru ``revealed torture by Army Intelligence Service 
        Officers'' and ``the systematic wiretapping of journalists, government 
        officials, and opposition politicians'';
Whereas on July 13, 1997, Peruvian immigration authorities revoked the Peruvian 
        citizenship of Baruch Ivcher, the Israeli-born owner of the Channel 2 
        television station; and
Whereas Baruch Ivcher subsequently lost control of Channel 2 under an 
        interpretation of a law that provides that a foreigner may not own a 
        media organization, causing the Department of State's Report on Human 
        Rights Practices for 1998 to report that ``threats and harassment 
        continued against Baruch Ivcher and some of his former journalists and 
        administrative staff . . . In September Ivcher and several of his staff 
        involved in his other nonmedia businesses were charged with customs 
        fraud. The Courts sentenced Ivcher in absentia to 12 years imprisonment 
        and his secretary to 3 years in prison. Other persons from his former 
        television station, who resigned in protest in 1997 when the station was 
        taken away, also have had various charges leveled against them and 
        complain of telephone threats and surveillance by persons in unmarked 
        cars'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON ANTIDEMOCRATIC MEASURES BY THE 
              GOVERNMENT OF PERU.<plus-minus>

    It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the erosion of the independence of judicial and 
        electoral branches of the Government of Peru and the blatant 
        intimidation of journalists in Peru are matters of serious 
        concern to the United States;
            (2) efforts by any person or political movement in Peru to 
        undermine that country's constitutional order for personal or 
        political gain are inconsistent with the standard of 
        representative democracy in the Western Hemisphere;
            (3) the Government of the United States supports the effort 
        of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to report on 
        the pattern of threats to democracy, freedom of the press, and 
        judicial independence by the Government of Peru; and
            (4) systematic abuse of the rule of law and threats to 
        democracy in Peru could undermine the confidence of foreign 
        investors in, as well as the creditworthiness of, Peru.

SEC. 2. TRANSMITTAL OF RESOLUTION.

    The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to the Secretary of State with the request that the 
Secretary further transmit such copy to the Secretary General of the 
Organization of American States, the President of the Inter-American 
Development Bank, and the President of the International Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development.
                                 <all>