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
Revocation of the order to carry out studies on environmental contamination in Porta Hnos.’s case
“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”.
The Federal Court of Appeals made the appeal filed by the company Porta Hermanos SA, revoking the ruling by the Federal Court No. 3 in which the case is processed “CRUZ, SILVIA MARCELA AND OTHERS v MINISTERIO DE ENERGÍA Y MINERÍA DE THE NATION s / AMPARO ENVIRONMENTAL “. In this resolution Judge Vaca Narvaja ordered, on the one hand, the Environmental Research Center – Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the National University of La Plata to inform the court the feasibility of carrying out a study on the possible environmental contamination at the Porta plant, and on the other hand, to the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the same University in order to evaluate the possibility of carrying out an inspection on 100 people living in the vicinity of the plant to detect possible pathologies .
The majority vote, maintains that the aforementioned resolution violates the principle of procedural consistency since the measures ordered by the judge of first instance, do not correlate with the object of the amparo filed by those affected. Recall that the principle of procedural consistency implies that the court can not go beyond what was requested by the parties or base its decision on facts different from those that have been alleged by the parties. In this case, the Chamber also maintains that, even though the intervening judge is assisted by the powers provided for in Article 32 of Law 25,675 – which refer to a judge with an active role, concerned about the protection of a collective good such as is the environment-, they must be applied with restrictions. According to the court, these powers are limited only to knowledge of the positions of the parties, thus giving primacy to the principle of congruence over such powers.
Given this panorama, it is necessary to make certain precisions:
The vote analyzed, maintains that the purpose of the amparo revolves around elucidating whether the bioethanol plant of the company Porta Hermanos required:
The principle of congruence, the precautionary principle and the environmental perspective.
First, from the reading of the same resolution, it is clear that the “environmental protection” presented by the neighbors, has as its main object the “cessation of atmospheric environmental pollution” by the bioethanol plant of the company Porta Hermanos SA In this line, it is requested the closure and final closure of the plant attentive to not having complied with the procedure of Environmental Impact Assessment – “lack of legal authorization”. Well, if the claim focuses on the cessation of environmental pollution, it is fully consistent to determine the existence of such a phenomenon. Indeed, it would be impossible to stop a contamination, which in the facts has not been fully proven.
Without prejudice to this, the precautionary principle comes into play since, even in the face of uncertainty, the judge could not postpone effective measures for the protection of the environment. In the resolution analyzed here, the majority vote ignores the claim of the amparistas, which is closely linked to the measures ordered by the Federal Judge, not violating the principle of congruence.
The administrative authorizations can not be permits to pollute.
Second, even when the object of environmental protection is that identified by the Chamber, that is, the need for a legal authorization, it is necessary to consider that what underlies the formal administrative procedures for authorization is the protection of the environment. Thus, the formal permits constitute a presumption of safety of the activity enabled but do not imply a permission to pollute and damage the environment, so that, upon verification of a polluting activity, such presumption must yield.
In other words, the debate on the need for an authorization or not, basically, involves discussing whether such activity harms the environment in a way that would have required the prevention and / or management of damage through the impact assessment procedures environmental (in accordance with the provisions of Art. 11 of Law 25,675). Therefore, even in such an object, the measures ordered by the federal judge of the 1st Instance, are fully congruent.
The preventive role of the courts in environmental processes.
In the third place, the assertion made by the Chamber that the principle of procedural consistency prevails over the powers granted by Art. 32 of Law 25,675 (L.G.A), is questionable, if not erroneous.
In the processes where the environmental issue is debated, because of the well protected, the rights at stake and the particularity of the damage, it is necessary that the traditional procedural rules (read principle of congruence) are redefined from the environmental and human rights perspective. The judge acquires a preventive role and an active role in pursuit of the effective protection of the general interest, being able to adopt the necessary measures and measures (Art. 32 L.G.A). In such a role, the judge must act in favor of the protection of the general environmental interest, which acquires a preeminent value, modifying the traditional rules of the civil process, in order to prevent environmental damage, without falling into the stillness of allowing the pollution and thereby consolidate irreparable environmental damage. Under this pre-eminence, the principle of congruence is subverted, or cedes in favor of environmental protection.
It should be noted that the resolution adopted by the Federal Court of Appeals of Córdoba, is questionable as it erroneously defines the object of environmental protection as merely formal (determine the need for legal authorization), and ignores principles and fundamental rules of Argentine environmental public order. In addition, in this case the resolution revoked simply ordered measures to have more information of the current situation, something that has been the cause of successive public complaints by neighbors in the neighborhoods San Antonio and Inaudi.
It is unfortunate that a formalistic look away from reality prevents having more information, in order to better investigate and evaluate a situation of socio-environmental conflict that has been in our city for years.
More information
Author
Juan Bautista Lopez
María Pérez Alsina, mariaperezalsina@fundeps.org
More than 100 organizations are calling on EITI to publish environmental information
“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”.
The EITI standard for transparency in extractive activities, seeks to disseminate information on the oil, gas and mining industry. It requires the publication of information along the value chain of the extractive industry, from the point of extraction, to the way in which revenues continue on their way to the government; even how they benefit the general public. This includes how licenses are adjudicated and registered, who are the actual beneficiaries of those operations, what are the legal and fiscal provisions, how much is produced, how much is paid, how are those revenues distributed, and what is the contribution to the economy, including employment.
It is a multilateral initiative to which governments adhere voluntarily, and ensuring the participation of civil society and companies in the extractive sector.
However, and despite the imprint of this initiative, the standard currently lacks requirements on the obligation to publish information related to the costs and environmental impacts of extractive activity. It is necessary to have information, for example, on the amount of water that a mining project consumes, fines paid by corporations for environmental violations, information on environmental impact assessments, mitigation plans, among others. These data are crucial to avoid irreversible damage to the environment and the violation of the rights of those affected by extractive activity.
During the week of February 25, the EITI Board will meet in Kiev, Ukraine; to review the provisions of the current standard. Civil society organizations in Latin America sent a letter demanding that after the review process new guidelines be incorporated to ensure that:
Information is disseminated at the project level, in relation to all social and environmental assessments, showing the true impact of extractive activity on ecosystems and communities.
Argentina has officially joined EITI on February 27, 2019. To strengthen the standard with the demands made by civil society, would result in an improvement on the generation and publication of environmental information in our country.
More information
Sitio WEB de EITI
Carta enviada al Directorio de EITI
Environmental Reporting: Key to Transparency
Contact
Agustina Palencia, agustinapalencia@fundeps.org
The advertising sector from a gender perspective
“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”.
This publication is part of a research process of more than three years, carried out by the Civil Association Communication for Equality and the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies – FUNDEPS – which addresses the problem of inequality in the field of communication, from access to participation, information and justice of citizens in public policies (2012/2016 and 2018), to access to equality in access to opportunities in the organizational structures of the media world, and in this case, the sector of the advertising industry.
The media and the advertising industry, as essential actors in the preparation of content, are spaces that hold great power, not only commercial or as cultural institutions, but are established as opinion makers, producers, reproducers and transmitters of values, stereotypes, meanings and common sense, while defining what is considered relevant, normal, debatable and socially accepted or rejected. It is fundamental to understand in this sense the global concern about the problem of inequality in access to opportunities for women and people in the LGTTTBIQ + community.
Already in 1995, the Platform for Action (PAB) of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, established as a strategic objective, within its section J, the need to “Increase access for women and their participation in expressing their ideas and making decisions in the media and through them, as well as in new communication technologies.” Among others, this is a commitment that States and civil society assumed in order to advance the process towards real equality between genders.
Closer in time, at the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which in March 2018, the following topic was considered: The participation of women in the media and Information and communication technologies, and women’s access to them, as well as their impact on the advancement and empowerment of women and their use for these purposes.
In the same way, and as it will be analyzed throughout the present, the Yogyakarta Principles, which since 2007 have addressed the application of international human rights legislation in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, in section 19, recommends that States ensure that both the production and the organization of media regulated by the State are pluralistic and non-discriminatory with regard to matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as in the hiring of personal and promotional policies, such organizations do not discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
In this framework, we present this report, we conducted an investigation throughout 2018, with the main objective of knowing the labor structure and gender policies of advertising agencies, professional associations, unions and educational institutions linked to the advertising sector of Argentina. The results show the representation of gender in their areas of operation, in the preparation of content and in decision-making positions. The approach is a necessary complement in order to understand the complete reality that covers the problem of communication, from a gender perspective
To carry out the report, interviews were held in the city of Buenos Aires and Córdoba, with: persons in charge of human resources or similar areas of advertising agencies; directives from universities that include careers related to the advertising sector; and unions and workers from that environment. In addition, data was collected and data was collected from official information sources.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the conclusions obtained in the investigation, and the democratization suggestions of the organizations made by the publicity workers and members of unions interviewed, the following recommendations have been made.
GENERAL
FOR ADVERTISING AGENCIES
FOR PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND TRADE UNIONS
FOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
FOR THE STATE
FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
Access to equal opportunities is one of the great debts of our society, and therefore it is necessary to continue breaking with the structures of power that invisibilize and exclude. It is of fundamental importance to continue walking towards an egalitarian democracy that recognizes in an inclusive way the rights of all citizens. The advertising sector is an important social actor. If the contents that are generated, and their functioning mechanisms are democratized towards real inclusion, a huge barrier will have been broken to achieve real equality for the whole society.
[1] Preeminence of males in the areas of Creativity, Technology and Production among others; and women in Administration, Accounts and Planning.
[2] Preeminence of males in management positions in most areas and, above all, in the General Directorates, Coordination and among CEOs.
Publication
More information
Contact
Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi – cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org
[SUMMARY] Advertising sector and gender: advertising agencies, associations, unions and educational institutions analyzed with a feminist perspective
Together with Comunicar Igualdad, we present the results of an investigation carried out in 2018 on the advertising sector, from educational institutions, trade unions, professional associations and advertising agencies in Córdoba and Buenos Aires.
Advertising sector and gender: advertising agencies, associations, unions and educational institutions analyzed with a feminist perspective
Together with Comunicar Igualdad, we present the results of an investigation carried out in 2018 on the advertising sector, from educational institutions, trade unions, professional associations and advertising agencies in Córdoba and Buenos Aires.
At the Cosquin Rock violates the regulations on tobacco advertising
“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”.
In Argentina, the National Law N ° 26.687 prohibits the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products directly or indirectly and through any means of dissemination or communication; but it contemplates exceptions such as the interior of the points of sale and direct communications to persons over 18 years of age, when their prior consent has been obtained and their age has been verified. The province of Córdoba adhered to the national law through Law No. 10026.
Despite these restrictions, the industry continues to promote tobacco products, with strategies that target adolescents and young people. You can notice, for example, its presence in music shows and night parties, events where the young audience predominates.
In the Cosquín Rock, developed on 9 and 10 February, different tactics could be identified. On the one hand, a large number of promoters and promoters, young people with homogeneous clothing who carried a hanging tray with a fixed and bright advertising, and displayed cigarettes. This gave them a massive visibility throughout the property.
On the other hand, their consumption was encouraged through a special promotion: buying cigarette box packages allowed access to beer at a lower cost than the sale at the authorized premises. In addition, buying beer from those who sold cigarettes avoided the long wait to pay for it at other points of sale.
The brand that was advertised was Rothmans, belonging to the group BAT (British American Tobacco) and cigarettes were flavored, a mechanism that clearly tries to attract new consumers and consumers, seeking to associate tobacco with known flavors. The age of the people who attended was not controlled, so children were also exposed to these strategies.
This type of practice is prohibited according to the law n ° 26.687 and specifically according to the provisions of the regulatory decree n ° 602/13 that expressly contemplates the prohibition of advertising in spaces for public use and promotional discounts.
From FUNDEPS and as members of the Free Alliance of Smoke of Argentina (ALIAR) we denounce this situation before the Secretary of Government of Health of the Nation.
In this context, it is urgent to make progress in regulations that completely prohibit the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, as recognized by prestigious public health institutions and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a public health agreement ratified by 181 countries of which Argentina is not a part.
The cigarette promotion at Cosquín Rock responds to a series of strategies aimed at young people. Allowing this type of advertising in musical events and night parties involves continuing to strengthen the idea of cigarettes as a product linked to fun, independence, rebellion, freedom … ignoring its addictive and deadly nature. Even today, tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in Argentina.
More information
Advertising actions of the tobacco companies on websites and events | FIC Argentina
Author
Julieta Segura
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni, agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”
“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”.
The text abounds in stereotyped notions of motherhood, speaking of “mother instinct” and “what is natural in women”. In addition, minimizes and naturalizes sexual abuse in childhood, describing as “nothing desired or desirable” the “way in which pregnancies were born”, but extolling those girls who took them forward, highlighting that it is “admirable and exciting to see unfold the maternal instinct. “
“Admiration towards the mothers girls, madrazas by the way. Sadness for the “abortionist grandmothers” who happily did not achieve their criminal purpose, “the text continues, describing as” criminals “those” grandmothers “(mothers of rape victims) who make effective the right of their daughters to access the legal interruption of the pregnancy due to the violation.
It should be noted that shortly after the note was published, numerous organizations and organizations of civil society expressed their rejection. Amnesty International Argentina stated that the publisher is unaware of the human rights of the girls and that most of the girls under 15 in our country “are forced child pregnancies as a consequence of situations of sexual abuse and violence that seriously affect the physical and mental integrity of girls. ”
In the same sense, UNICEF said that “pregnancy in childhood is not linked to the” maternal instinct “, it is sexual abuse and therefore pregnancy is forced. Adults (family, State, institutions) are responsible for protecting girls and boys from sexual abuse. “
The General Advisor to the City of Buenos Aires, Yael Bendel, also made public his position and said: “It is very serious that in times where girls’ infanticide, sexual abuse and as a result, pregnancies resulting from these abuses , there are editorials like these that banalize and romanticize these serious crimes. As a body for the protection of rights, we repudiate all the terms of this note. Because they violate rights. Because more than celebrating the dramatic consequences corresponds to prevent violence and punish criminal behavior.
Also, many workers in the media expressed their rejection of the note and manifested in their personal networks stating: “As a worker of LA NACION I reject the words of the editorial” Girls Mothers with capital letters “. A pregnant girl is a raped girl. # GirlsNoMothers “.
The same medium through his digital newspaper was expressed hours later listing the aforementioned criticism and rejection of the publisher in question. “The NATION regrets that the text has been interpreted as a somewhat tolerant message towards child abuse, something that, as the editorial itself pointed out, is obviously repugnant,” concludes the note, which far from making a request for Appropriate apology with the corresponding rectification, attributes the discriminatory, stereotypical and apologetic message of the editorial to the mere interpretation of the reader.
In the document that is attached, all the violences in which the editorial note is incurred are exposed, as well as the abusive reproduction of notions contrary to human rights. These behaviors carried out by the media are constituted as media and symbolic violence, and are a dangerous tool to misinform and create behavioral values that are harmful to citizens.
Document Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”
Contact
Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org
Virginia Pedraza, vir.pedraza@fundeps.org
Criticism based on the note “Mothers girls with capital letters”
The document highlights the violence committed by the editorial note of the newspaper La Nación, as well as the abusive reproduction of notions contrary to human rights. These behaviors carried out by the media are constituted as media and symbolic violence, and are a dangerous tool for misinform and create behavioral values that are harmful to citizens.
The National Coalition to Prevent Childhood Obesity in Children and Adolescents spoke in favor of the frontal labeling of warnings
“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”.
A nivel nacional, según la Encuesta Mundial de Salud Escolar (2012), en los últimos cinco años, en el grupo de adolescentes de 13 a 15 años aumentó el exceso de peso del 24,5% al 28,6%. A su vez, la prevalencia de obesidad pasó del 4,4% al 5,9%. Esta situación demuestra la necesidad de formulación de políticas públicas que tiendan a disminuir el consumo de productos con nutrientes críticos y a mejorar los hábitos alimentarios de la población a los fines de reducir el sobrepeso, la obesidad y otras enfermedades no transmisibles.
En este sentido, prestigiosas organizaciones de salud pública y comités de derechos humanos, han sugerido la adopción de un etiquetado frontal de alimentos como política de probada efectividad para prevenir la obesidad y el sobrepeso.
En Argentina no existe un sistema de etiquetado frontal de los alimentos establecido por ley que informe a consumidores y consumidoras acerca de altos contenidos de nutrientes críticos (azúcares, grasas y sodio) ni tampoco es obligatoria la declaración de azúcares en los productos envasados. En este contexto, el Programa Nacional de Alimentación Saludable y Prevención de la Obesidad coordinó un debate y el posterior posicionamiento de la Comisión Nacional de Alimentación Saludable y Prevención de Obesidad, respecto del tipo de etiquetado frontal a recomendar para la Argentina.
Desde la Coalición, apoyamos las recomendaciones efectuadas por 9 de las instituciones participantes, entre ellas la Secretaría de Gobierno de Salud de la Nación, quienes se manifestaron a favor del etiquetado frontal de advertencia y el perfil de nutrientes de la OPS. Instamos a que estas recomendaciones se traduzcan en políticas públicas efectivas para la protección del derecho a la salud y la alimentación adecuada a través de regulaciones vinculantes.
Download full statement
More Information
Contact
Agustina Mozzoni, agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org
Regional Report on Transparency and Access to Information
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 situation of official advertising in Córdoba: electoral propaganda on the agenda
“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
The president of the World Bank resigns: possible conflict of interest and transparency in the appointments
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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:
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.
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
Contact
Gonzalo Roza – gon.roza@fundeps.org
Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org