The International Press Institute (IPI) today warmly congratulated Grenada on becoming the first Caribbean state to decriminalise defamation, but urged the Grenadian government to further abolish seditious libel. According to Grenada’s Ministry of Legal Affairs, a July reform to the country’s criminal code included the repeal of Section 252, which regulated “negligent” and “intentional” libel. […]

Early this year, Dominican journalist Johnny Alberto Salazar was sentenced to six months in jail for slander and libel. The charges stemmed from Salazar’s on-air comments accusing Pedro Baldera, a local Human Rights Committee official, of “protecting delinquents and people linked to organised crime.” Salazar, an elected council member and well-known local gadfly, said prior […]

Meeting at their annual general assembly on June 25, 2012, the members of the International Press Institute (IPI) adopted the Declaration of Port of Spain, which is an IPI-initiated call for governments throughout the Caribbean to repeal criminal defamation and insult laws. Read the Declaration here.  

Lea en español Beginning this week, IPI will undertake a two-week, four-nation mission in the Caribbean to push for the repeal of criminal defamation laws. From June 9 to 22, IPI delegates will visit Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago to meet with representatives of government, media, and civil society. As part […]