THE ALIANZA REGIONAL JOINS AN AMICUS CURIAE REGARDING A CASE OF GOVERNMENT ADVERTISING IN MEXICO Member organizations of the Alianza

Regional por la Libre Expresin e Informacin, adhered to the document presented by the organization Fundar, Article 19 Mexico and the Open Society Initiative, before the Supreme Court of Mexico in a case about Government Advertising, "NEGOCIACION DE ASIGNACION DE PUBLICIDAD OFICIAL a RADIO COMUNITARIA -LA VOLADORA-". The case is presented by the organizations AMARC and Litiga OLE. This document is presented within a time when discussions on the need to regulate official advertising have taken national importance in Mexico. Fundar and Article 19 have worked encouraging public debate, supporting the presentation of some bills initiatives, besides presenting a report on spending and repeated violation of administrative regulations. The Amicus Curiae is based on three main documents: the corpus of the Inter-American System (in particular the report of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression); the documents of the regional work coordinated by the Asociacin por los Derechos Civiles (ADC) - Argentina and Justice Initiative: The price of silence: Abuse of official advertising and other forms of censorship in Latin America; and the Amicus Curiae filed in the Argentine cases. The Alianza Regional joins the opportunity to pursue three debates regarding this issue: (1) that the arbitrary allocation of government advertising has implications for freedom of expression and information, (2) that the State has a behavior duty regarding this issue and (3) that the criteria of non-discrimination and equality, works in favor of specific audiences who have the right to receive the message of the advertising. Finally, the Alianza Regional supports these strategic litigation actions as a form of judicial intervention, since it considers them a valuable tool to submit issues to the public debate to defend freedom of expression and access to information, supporting the needs of the region and highlighting the work of the organizations that have experience in these matters. ALIANZA REGIONAL POR LA LIBRE EXPRESIN E INFORMACIN www.alianzaregional.net Executive Secretariat: Karina Banfi. 54 9 11 5 315 7564. correo@alianzaregional.net