This publication seeks to disseminate the arguments and recommendations of civil society, individuals and communities impacted on the impact on the right of access to information and transparency in extractive contexts in eight countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Nicaragua, Guatemala, Dominican Republic , Honduras, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru.
The official publicity is a very valuable mechanism of communication between the governments and the citizenship that has as its objective the access to public information and the rendering of accounts. However, the use of official advertising for personal campaigns is already a tradition in Argentina, which does not recognize differences between political parties or electoral years. At national, provincial and municipal levels, official advertising is an instrument used for propaganda purposes.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
Using public resources to promote the image of officials is categorically unacceptable. It is understood, in the first instance, that this type of practice involves the financing of personal companies with the ‘citizens’ money’. In the second instance, it means the abuse of power by those to whom the people have entrusted their representation. In a third instance, situations of these characteristics blur the boundaries between the State and the ruling political party; what ultimately stands opposed to democratic and republican values.
According to ADC (Association for Civil Rights), corruption in the use of official guidelines can be reflected in different situations, one of them, in the exercise of party propaganda. In this sense, official advertising should be understood as a channel of communication between the State and the public regarding information of public interest. Latin America presents as a common element, however, the propagandistic use of official guidelines, as a tool for the promotion of officials or official candidates. It is a practice that, in most cases, crosses the different levels of government.
In Argentina, Law 25,188 on Ethics in Public Administration regulates, in its article 42, these types of practices: “the publicity of acts, programs, works, services and campaigns of public bodies must be of an educational, informative or educational nature. social orientation, not being able to include in it names, symbols or images that suppose personal promotion of the authorities or public officials “.
In the country, there are few provinces that have regulations governing official advertising. Among them are the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Chaco, Río Negro and Santa Fe. Therefore, the law of public ethics is the only legal framework with which it is counted in many cases. In Córdoba, as there is no such regulation, the political scene in Cordoba becomes a sort of liberated ground for the existence and use of official advertising for purposes that go beyond mere information and accountability to the citizen. Towards within the province, numerous municipalities have witnessed the proselytizing practice of using the official guideline, in order to promote governmental efforts in the exercise of power. However, some localities have managed to sanction ordinances that seek to make transparent the policies for state money in official advertising.
WHAT HAPPENS IN CÓRDOBA:
As already mentioned, in Córdoba there is no regulation that regulates the use of official advertising and therefore sanctions the political propaganda that could be made from it. Some municipalities, however, have recognized the need to have ordinances that limit this type of practices.
Villa de Soto, Villa General Belgrano and Río Tercero have been some of the Cordoba towns that have advanced with this type of regulation. All its ordinances recognize a normalized situation of use of public spaces for personal propaganda. For this reason, the texts of these regulations establish that the publicity of acts, programs, works, services and campaigns must be of an educational, informative, socially oriented or accountable nature. Not being able to include in it names, symbols or images that suppose personal promotion of the authorities or public officials, nor party symbols, except when reasons of institutional character impose another modality.
Many of the rules mentioned in the previous paragraph, have had their germ in the discontent of the residents of these towns, who have been bombarded by party publicity in spaces that should not be co-opted by it. Also, residents of the town of Bialet Massé have denounced on several occasions the misuse of the official guideline (since the name of the local mayor has been indiscriminately included), and have even tried to promote an ordinance similar to those already in force. mentioned. His initiatives, however, did not have positive results. The same happened in the towns of Cosquín and Pilar.
Particularly, the ordinance presented in Cosquín, is one of the most complete since it not only seeks to limit the use of official advertising, but also establishes the principles that advertising must respect (transparency, plurality of means, reasonableness in spending, equality, accessibility, environmental sustainability, among others). In the same way, the ordinance project details exhaustively the objectives that the official publicity must have. The reasons for vetoing that ordinance were not clear.
It is important to mention that unlike the province, the city of Cordoba has an ordinance of these characteristics, it is the public ethics ordinance, which like the other mentioned norms, prevents the appearance of public figures in management advertisements and / or government announcements.
WICH IS THE IMPORTANCE ABOUT REGULATION OF OFFICIAL ADVERTISING:
In Argentina it seems that the public machine with electoral fines is constantly in operation, limiting the possibilities of competition of possible and / or future electoral options. At a national level, Law 26.5713 stipulates that parties can not hire audiovisual spaces to make the campaign and only those that have been provided by the state and the subjects by lottery. Situation that is at a disadvantage, unfair practices, the start-up and officialism during non-election times. Although the argument to establish this norm is valid, since it is aimed at equal conditions of access to the media, without regulation of official advertising, the effect generates a great asymmetry in political competition.
What role does society occupy in this diagram? The public is inundated with advertising for electoral purposes and with little information content. In terms of transparency, there is an enormous difficulty in obtaining answers about amounts, beneficiaries, and criteria for distributing the guidelines. At the national level, the delivery of information varies from year to year with a tendency towards restrictive in this matter. In Córdoba city and province this is unknown, and it gets worse when you consider the lack of legislation on this. In an electoral 2019, with a bill to finance political parties in order to be discussed, it is necessary to focus on these practices that take away legitimacy from government efforts. It is also time to put on the table the discussion on the need to have a public ethics law at the provincial level.
Contact: Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org
On January 7, the world was surprised by the untimely resignation of World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. With three years left to finish her second term, Kim stepped aside to take a position within the private sector. A possible conflict of interest and transparency in the definition of the Bank’s leadership, key issues.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
Abruptly and unexpectedly, the president of the World Bank (WB) Jim Yong Kim, resigned his mandate to undertake a new job in the private sector. According to the official communiqué of the WB, during the term of Kim, special attention was paid to investments in infrastructure. He assured that the key to the advancement of the developing nations was the support and investment in this sector. For this reason, Jim Yong decided to step aside arguing that his work for global development would be more fruitful from the firm ‘Global Infrastructure’, a multinational company specializing in infrastructure investments for the water, energy, transport and waste sectors. .
Kim’s departure has not gone unnoticed, and numerous civil society organizations around the world have emphasized the possible conflict of interest in Kim’s surprise decision and wonder what will happen from this? In particular, they have raised a series of concerns:
- Financing for development through the private sector:
According to the now ex-president of the WB, worldwide there is a deficit in infrastructure that would be around the trillion dollars. This amount, in no way can be covered, not even with the portfolio of all the institutions of financing for the development (IFIs) together. In this regard, Kim, during his tenure, has tried to ensure that financing for development, no longer oriented to the public sector, to turn to the private sector. In this way, the WB and other IFIs have increased their investment portfolio to financial intermediaries and other companies / private corporations. Kim’s decision to continue his professional career in the private sector raises doubts about the underlying interest in the decision to orient the World Bank towards the private sector. In other areas of interaction between the public and private sectors there are window periods during which those who have decision-making roles are prohibited from changing their sector (“cooling off periods” in English). The inexistence of similar mechanisms in the World Bank inevitably calls into question some of Kim’s decisions that in practice expanded financing to the private sector.
The change towards private financing, although it could be beneficial in economic and financial terms for the States, maintains concerns for environmental sustainability and respect for human rights. Recently, there seems to be a positive correlation between the increase in projects financed by companies and the growth of negative impacts on people’s lives and the environment. In addition, it is important to remember that during the mandate of Kim, the revision of the social and environmental safeguards of the WB – the regulations that establish criteria for the projects that the World Bank can support -, far from representing a strengthening of the policy, meant the transformation of these standards, a normative framework much more lax. The resignation of Kim then, leaves open the door to ask if the next president of the WB will have as a priority private funding, and if so, how the institution can adapt to international and national standards regarding respect for Human Rights.
- Transparency and accountability at the institutional level in IFIs:
Other questions that have arisen after this event, have to do with the next president of the WB and its selection process: Who will succeed? What will the process be like to elect the next president? Will the government of the United States be in charge of targeting the person who assumes the presidency, as has happened on previous occasions? In what way can the WB’s governance be more transparent when it comes to electing its authorities?
At the global level there is a tacit agreement that, since the beginning of the Bretton Woods system, has established that the head of the World Bank would be defined by the United States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by Europe. Over the years, this has been respected to the letter, with the White House, which has pointed to the president of the WB. Kim was no exception to this practice and was nominated by the government of Barack Obama. This process that has been taking place has little transparency and has always ended up transforming the World Bank into an executing arm of US government policies. In these times, a WB president appointed by the administration of Donald Trump would be risky when thinking about the performance of this institution on issues such as climate change and human rights in general.
Beyond the effects of a WB president appointed by the Trump government, Kim’s departure opens a series of questions about the bank’s governance and transparency in the appointment of its authorities. It is necessary to establish a transparent selection process in which all candidates have equal opportunities to occupy the position. The Chair of the Presidency of the WB must be occupied by a truly qualified person who has as a priority the execution of investments under the umbrella of sustainable development and human rights. The history of secrecy behind each WB president has impacted on the credibility of the institution. This vacancy, now, means an opportunity for the WB to reposition itself within the international system as an independent actor.
From now on
Kim’s departure for ‘Global Infrastructure Partners’ (GIP) has raised doubts about the appearance on the door of a possible conflict of interest. The multinational GIP is responsible for investing in infrastructure for developing economies, this being the main sector of interest of the WB. It is important to follow up on plausible agreements to be finalized between both institutions.
Regarding the vacancy for president, the WB has announced a nomination process for candidates that will be open until mid-March 2019. The civil society will be attentive and making a detailed follow-up of everything that happens to seek the transparency of the process. It will remain to be seen, once the next president is selected, what their main management guidelines will be and if they respond to the true development needs of communities and populations around the world.
More information
- Press Release: World Bank Group President Kim to Step Down February 1
- Is It Time to Give Up on the World Bank?
- World Bank President Jim Kim resigns: what’s his legacy and what happens next?
- United States must preserve the presidency of the World Bank
- Aaaand we’re back! Kim announces surprise departure, kicking off a sooner than expected leadership challenge
- Opportunity lost with the approval of the new WB Safeguards Framework – FUNDEPS
Contact
Gonzalo Roza – gon.roza@fundeps.org
Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org
The Ombudsman’s Office responded to the complaint we made against “El Show de la Mañana”, broadcast on Channel 12, for content that spectacularized a situation of clear violence towards a 12-year-old girl.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On July 19, in the program “El Show de la Mañana”, a content was recorded that recorded an episode of violence suffered by a 12-year-old girl by a woman on public roads.
The Ombudsman said that, “although, as expressed in the query, a critical and condemnatory view of the violent acts by the program’s members is observed, the video exhibition under the modality in which it is carried out, redounds in the spectacularization of an event of serious violence suffered by a girl.”
As a corollary to the complaint and the process initiated, the Ombudsman’s Office proposed to conduct a training activity aimed at the program’s members, and all those who wish to participate in the channel, based on the activities they carry out in the programs . The training took place at the Canal 12 facilities on December 7.
During the activity, they were trained in particular on the guidelines for the issuance of content in time suitable for all public, in order to protect the rights of children in journalistic approaches, since that was what initially motivated the claim. However, the Ombudsman took advantage of the instance with the members of the program, as well as all the personnel of Canal 12 who would like to join to train on other issues related to the rights of the audiences.
In particular, recommendations were provided for the coverage of events related to violence against women. The topic of non-discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexual orientation was deepened in order to denaturalize the discourses that reproduce inequality. Finally, issues related to mental health and suicide were also addressed.
The actions of the Public Defender’s Office are very important, as it acts as a link between the citizens and the audiovisual media, through dialogue with different actors, to motivate the reflection on the themes, as well as to find solutions and mechanisms of reparation for the rights affected. Its actions provide legal guarantees for radio and television audiences, as well as community media, peasant groups and indigenous peoples.
The body is in the same situation of acefalía since 2016, which almost three years ago does not allow it to implement all of its functions. While there is a temporary holder, designated until March 2019, the Ombudsman’s Office continues to carry out its work, in a prudential time, contemplating the rights of the audiences and promoting an inclusive communication and human rights. However, the situation of acefalía not only puts at risk the rights of the hearings, but also harms the public policies that promote communication from a local and community perspective. We hope that the Bicameral Commission responsible for the designation of a defender, will act and appoint a suitable person for this function, enabling the full functioning of this body.
More information
Nota Defensoría del Público -612-2018
Contact
Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org
The company Arcor presented a report to the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (NNyA) arguing that the campaign “your fair share” is respectful of current legislation and does not violate the rights of children and adolescents.
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On December 21, we received a communication from the Defensoría de NNyA of the province of Córdoba, before which we filed a complaint against the self-proclaimed “Tu Porción Justa” campaign of the Arcor company. This campaign violates the right to health and adequate food for children and adolescents by promoting the consumption of products that are high in critical nutrients.
In this communication, the Ombudsman informed us that the Arcor company, using its right of reply, had presented a report arguing that said campaign is respectful of the current legislation and does not violate the rights of children and adolescents.
Also, the Ombudsman suggested to arrange a meeting between FUNDEPS and Arcor to bring positions closer.
On the other hand, within the framework of consumer law, in the first conciliation hearing held in out-of-court venue, we requested from the Arcor company the marketing studies and the scientific foundations on which the campaign was designed, as well as the contacts of nutritionists and professionals who supported it, in order to better understand the scientific evidence mentioned by the company. This information was not provided by the company, after the second conciliation hearing in extrajudicial headquarters.
We continue working and demanding public policies that effectively protect the right to health and adequate food, and that do not leave room for the development of this type of campaign that violates these rights.
More information
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
The province of Tierra del Fuego regulated the law nº 1203 of control of smoking, sanctioned on December 15, 2017. The regulations are called to be the highest national standard because, besides incorporating the complete prohibition of advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco, expressly contemplates the prohibition of product exhibition.
National Law No. 26,687 meant the end of campaigns, commercials, sporting events and fashion shows sponsored by cigarette brands; by restricting advertising, promotions and sponsorships only to advertisements at points of sale, publications of companies in the sector and direct communications, with prior consent and verification of the age of majority of the recipients.
However, the tobacco industry knows how to take advantage of the existing legal vacuum: it is responsible for complying with advertising requirements, but it allocates a large part of its resources to the exhibition of tobacco products, making this one of its main marketing strategies. In terms of visibility and brand promotion, the effect achieved is as powerful as that of advertising.
Several provinces of our country have also advanced with regulations that establish a broad ban on tobacco advertising, examples of which are Santa Fe, Neuquén, San Luis, Santa Cruz and La Pampa. However, Tierra del Fuego is the first case in which there is expressly a ban on the exhibition of tobacco products, which constitutes a significant and novel advance in terms of health protection, especially for children and young people.
Thus, article 4 defines what should be understood by exhibition, saying that it is: “any form of exhibition of products and by-products made with tobacco that allows its visibility”. Subsequently, in its article 17 the regulations refer specifically to the exhibition of tobacco products in points of sale stating that: “Commercial premises where products provided by this law are sold, may place signs inside (…) provided that they are not seen directly or indirectly from the outside, nor contain colors, logos, isotypes or any other design that allows to identify the commercial brands of the products or their production companies “. In turn, the provisions that establish the prohibition of exhibition in places of mass competition (Article 11), as well as the one that prohibits the direct or indirect exhibition of tobacco products “through any means of dissemination or communication, deserve special attention. , recommendation or commercial action in order to directly or indirectly promote the product or its use “(Art.16).
We believe it is essential to establish a ban on advertising and promotion of tobacco products, without exceptions. According to studies carried out by WHO, the elimination of any form of advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including the exhibition of tobacco products, is one of the most effective measures to prevent consumption.
In this same sense, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESC rights) has expressed itself, expressing to Argentina its great concern about the precarious regulation of advertising campaigns of tobacco companies. That is why, as he did in 2011, he reiterated to the State the need to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and adjust the internal regulations on advertising of tobacco products to the standards established therein; the increase in taxes to levels that have a deterrent effect on tobacco consumption and the adoption of information measures on the negative impact of tobacco on health, emphasizing the need to protect young people and children.
Author
Maga Merlo Vijarra
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni, agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org