Sally Burch included on list of 63 journalists and NGO officials banned from December meeting over ‘security concerns’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A British journalist has been deported from Argentina after the government included her in a list of 63 people who are prohibited from attending the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference, which takes place in Buenos Aires on 10-13 December.

At the capital’s Ezeiza international airport, shortly before being placed by authorities on a flight back to Ecuador, where she lives, Sally Burch said: “I’m a British journalist and I’m being rejected entry to Argentina.”

Also deported on Thursday was Norwegian activist Petter Titland, head of the NGO Attac Norge, who was placed on a plane to Brazil shortly after he arrived from Norway to attend the WTO conference.



Argentina judge calls for arrest of ex-president Cristina Fernández for treason Read more

Argentina has cited security concerns to justify blocking the entry of formerly accredited journalists and NGO officials.



Argentina’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The security team of the ministerial conference organisation alerted the WTO of the existence of some attendees, registered before that organisation in the name of some NGOs, who had made explicit calls for manifestations of violence through social media, expressing the intent to generate schemes of intimidation and chaos.”

Human rights organisations said they were puzzled by Argentina’s surprise deportations. “We don’t understand this decision which exposes Argentina before the international community,” Mariela Belski, executive director of Amnesty International Argentina, told the Guardian.

The EU trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, wrote to Argentina’s foreign minister Jorge Faurie saying:

“Ensuring the security of the conference is of course essential, but I fail to see how the NGO representatives based in Europe who have seen their accreditation revoked would pose any security threat.”

Burch said that she was stopped at immigration when she arrived at the airport and was told she was on a “no-entry list”.



“I think this is a not very democratic attitude on the part of Argentina’s government,” she said in an interview with Argentina’s Radio 10 station.



Burch is a long-time resident of Ecuador where she is executive director of the Agencia Latinoamericana de Información (Latin American Information Agency).



The Norwegian foreign ministry expressed its concern on Friday at the deportation of Titland. “Argentina’s decision is unfortunate and sends a wrong signal,” the foreign ministry spokesperson, Guri Solberg, told Norway’s ABC Nyheter website.



The Norwegian foreign minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, was expected to make a formal protest to Argentina’s ambassador to Oslo on Saturday.