Tag Archive for: Access to Information

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International Day for the Fight against Corruption: We need comprehensive public policies

Corruption negatively impacts the quality of our democracy and affects the validity of human rights, particularly those groups and communities that are most vulnerable. By reducing the quantity and quality of public resources available, the economic, social and cultural rights of the population are especially undermined.

Regarding the fight against corruption, our country still has numerous reforms pending. Among them, we can mention as unavoidable points the modification of the law of public ethics, the sanction of a new system of purchases and contracts of the State, implement policies of transparency in the financing of the policy, improve the control organisms, implement policies of transparency in markets and financial flows. It is also necessary to institutionalize spaces for citizen participation, not only in the fight against corruption, but to guarantee a more inclusive democracy.

On International Anti-Corruption Day, civil society organizations highlight that in order to successfully prevent, detect and punish corruption, comprehensive public policies are needed, aimed at different sectors of the State and private actors. For that, it is necessary to generate broad and robust consensus among the various social actors. In this sense, the Social Anti-Corruption Agreement, prepared by a diverse group of organizations and specialists, aims to draw up a roadmap of public policies that should be implemented to build a country with less corruption and, therefore, more just and egalitarian.

The document can be accessed at www.acuerdoanticorrupcion.org.

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

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Journalists and NGOs meet to talk about transparency and access to information

On November 28 and 29, the 2nd annual meeting of the Network of Organizations Against Corruption (ROCC) was held in the city of Córdoba. In this context, a meeting was held with journalists to talk about corruption and access to information.

The central theme that summoned us was the request to update the law on access to public information in Córdoba, supported by ROCC and other NGOs in Córdoba. During the meeting, the status of this right was discussed at the level of the provinces and at the national level, and the differences between the existence of a regulation and its application. Journalists and NGOs concluded in the need for a collaborative work together to be able to work on access to public information.

What is the situation in Córdoba?

The conclusions of the meeting show the need, in most cases, to have to prosecute requests for access to public information in Cördoba, and to have to wait for judicial times.

Córdoba, not only needs to update its law on access to information, but also the regulations that exist are far from being correctly applied. Fundeps only received 5% responses to requests for information submitted in 2019 to the municipality and the province; and when he prosecuted a case, the TSJ resolved it 10 years later.

And in the other provinces?

From the organizations of Mendoza, CLADH (Latin American Center for Human Rights) and Our Mendoza, it was highlighted that there were clear advances in relation to access to public information in their province, especially legislative ones. Since 2018 they have a new AIP law and in 2019 it was regulated. It contemplates issues of active transparency and even an office dedicated to its implementation, the Office of Administrative Research and Public Ethics. However, they warn that this does not work properly and that a system of comptroller, interprovincial for example, would be useful for the purpose of this being accountable to a third party.

On the other hand, both Salta and Santa Fe, Salta Transparente and Acción Acción, respectively, announced that their legislative situation is the most worrying. Salta does not have a law on access to public information at the provincial level, but at the municipal level of the city of Salta with an ordinance that includes, among other issues, active transparency and sanctions in the case of non-compliance with it. For its part in Santa Fe, the next will try for the ninth time to enter the law to the Legislature the bill on access to public information.

The Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ) of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires, said it is preparing a report on the applicability of the national AIP law, which will be published at the beginning of the year 2020.

How did the ROCC event continue?

At the meeting, other civil society organizations in Córdoba were invited to present their projects on Open Government. Virginia Romanutti of the Our Cordoba Citizen Network attended, who presented her work in the framework of the Goals Plan of the Municipality of Córdoba. Also attended by representatives of PARES working around three strategic axes: gender, citizenship and development; and Minka who is dedicated to issues related to law and technology.

In relation to the Network of Organizations Against Corruption, a balance of the activities of 2019 was made, highlighting:

  • The note that was presented on January 25 to the president of the nation in relation to the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) issued on the Procedural Regime of Civil Action for Extinction of Domain.
  • Contribution of comments to the presentation of the Draft Open State Law in Salta.
  • Active participation in the Federal Council for Transparency.
  • The Social Anti-Corruption Agreement.

And, some actions were proposed to carry out next year as:

  • Participate in the Federal Council for Transparency.
  • Conduct awareness campaigns on the importance of the right of access to public information.
  • Supervise infrastructure works at the national level as they become one of the most important niches of corruption.
  • I work to regularize the lobby.
  • Consolidate a work plan on misuse of public resources.
  • Require a law on public ethics in provinces or municipalities that do not own one.

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

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We present amparo action against the Province due to lack of information

At the end of October of this year we present an action for amparo for late payment, within the framework of Law No. 8803 that regulates the right to access to knowledge of State acts, against the Ministry of Health of the Province of Córdoba, for not having responded to a request for public information filed on August 6.

“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”.

Within the framework of our work in monitoring and promoting public policies that respect human rights, with special interest in accessing health services in sexual and reproductive health in the province of Córdoba, we requested information from the Ministry of Health of Córdoba and the directors of the main provincial hospitals.

The information requested focused on the services provided by the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program, with questions about the number of patients who received care, the amount of training that was done in the province on the subject, the budget allocated to the Program, between others. In addition, questions about the services of Legal Disruption of Pregnancy were specifically included, and about the regulations applied to cases of conscientious objection.

In the absence of a response from the Ministry of Health, one month after having dispatched the request, we submitted a request for prompt dispatch, but we also did not obtain any response. It is worth clarifying that the period provided by Law No. 8803 for the provincial State to answer these types of requests is 10 business days. At the end of October, because this deadline was long overdue, we decided to initiate an action for amparo for late payment, which is currently being processed in the Chamber of Administrative Litigation No. 1 of the provincial justice.

The difficulties of accessing information in Córdoba

The right of every person to request and receive complete, truthful, adequate and timely information from any body belonging to the public administration is a fundamental human right to guarantee citizen participation, the strengthening of the democratic system, the transparency of public management. and the effective enforcement of other rights.

Throughout this year, from Fundeps we presented a total of 62 requests for public information to various provincial and municipal public agencies. All meet the deadline, and we only got 3 answers.

It is unfortunate that we have to resort to judicial proceedings in order to access information that is public. It is necessary that the Province review the regulations and enact a law that contemplates the minimum standards for the effective validity of this right, so we request that the law on access to public information be updated.

More information

Contact

Mayca Balguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

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Organizations ask to update the Cordoba access to information law

Organizations of Córdoba and from different parts of the country, we request through a document, the update of the provincial law of access to public information, according to international standards and the national law passed in 2016.

“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”.

Córdoba has a law called “Law on Access to Knowledge to State Acts” of 1999, which does not include the minimum standards for the effective validity of the right to access public information. Within this framework, organizations we request the updating of the regulations, following the guidelines of the Inter-American Model Law and the National Law on Access to Public Information.

Among its shortcomings, the current provincial law does not establish which are the key principles by which the right of access to public information is governed, it defines in a very restrictive way “public information” and the “obliged subjects” to provide information. For example, it does not include entities that receive public funds, such as political parties or unions, or state contractors to provide a public service.

In turn, the regulations do not have an entity responsible for compliance with the law or establish what information should be proactively published by the State, thereby strengthening democracy and citizen participation.

Request public information in Córdoba

Throughout 2019, from Fundeps we presented a total of 62 requests for public information to various provincial and municipal public agencies, of which we obtained only 3 satisfactory answers. Of those 62 requests, 54 were unanswered and, of the remaining 5, we obtained “answers” ​​of the most diverse, in some cases unclear or incomplete, and in other unusual responses such as “we will not respond”. These requests for information contemplated different themes related to other human rights, such as health, the environment, development, among others.

This makes it imperative to provide mechanisms for monitoring and compliance with the law, through an independent entity. Thus, all claims could be centralized in the event of non-compliance, establish clear guidelines for action to those who must provide information and raise awareness of issues of transparency, accountability and access to information.

We need Córdoba to enact a new law on access to public information that guarantees the effective validity of the right to access public information, key to both strengthening the democratic system, the transparency of public management and the effective enforcement of other rights.

Requesting organizations

Fundeps Argentina, CLADH – Centro Latinoamericano de Derechos Humanos, Fundación Conocimiento Abierto, Fundación Córdoba de Todos, Desarrollo Digital, Directorio Legislativo, Foro Ambiental Córdoba, Minka, Nuestra Mendoza, PARES, Poder Ciudadano, Salta Transparente, ACIJ – Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia y Acción Colectiva.

More information

CÓRDOBA, a proposal to UPDATE THE LAW OF ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org
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Córdoba, a proposal to update the law on access to public information

Organizations of Córdoba and from different parts of the country, we request through a document, the update of the provincial law of access to public information, according to international standards and the national law passed in 2016.

Descargar Documento / Download File
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Trunk gas pipelines: we make requests for information from agencies in the province of Córdoba

On August 21, we made requests for information on the finished work of the trunk pipelines of the province of Córdoba to different units of the province of Córdoba.

On the occasion of the completion, in the course of 2019, of the work of trunk pipelines that began to be planned more than ten years ago, we made requests for information to the Córdoba Investment and Financing Agency (ACIF), the Ministry of Water, Environment and Public Services and the Ministry of Public Works and Financing.

With this work, according to the government of the province, the gas network reached almost 98% of Cordoba, however, there are a number of issues around the project that are not yet fully clarified.

Despite being completed, issues such as the lack of access to information on the control of the progress of the project, such as the lack of precision about the funders of each of the systems has been controversial and confusing. Although it could be observed that the communication on the progress in the work by the provincial government was constant, the same did not happen with access to more specific and sensitive issues related to the project.

From Fundeps we have carried out periodic monitoring and monitoring of the project, even though the official information has been scarce and difficult to access: requests for information we previously made were never answered. With these new requests made we hope that the modalities in the access of provincial information have been modified in a positive way in order to achieve a more transparent and open government to society.

More information

Author

Sofia Brocanelli

Contact

Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org

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We urge the Municipality to comply with the Bajo Grande Mitigation Plan

Given the facts of public knowledge related to the report of the Environmental Police Directorate of the province of Córdoba regarding the malfunction of the Edar Bajo Grande plant, we insist on the claim presented in May of this year, by Fundeps with Las Omas and neighbors of the neighborhoods Chacras de la Merced, Villa La Merced, Ciudad Mi Esperanza and Parque 9 de Julio against the mayor Ramón Mestre, requesting a hearing this time in order to seek alternatives to solve the problem.

“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 May of the current year, we presented together with neighbors from different neighborhoods immersed in the problem of Chacras de la Merced, an administrative complaint. In this, we demanded that the Municipality of Córdoba Municipality comply with the mitigation plan prepared by the municipality itself to temper and correct the problems that afflict said area of ​​our city due to environmental degradation mainly from the Purification Station of Wastewater of Bajo Grande (hereinafter Edar).

Due to the lack of responses by the Intendancy, and to the facts of public knowledge about a report by the Environmental Police Directorate of the Province that again highlights the malfunction of the Edar plant, and the consequent contamination environmental that this causes, is that we insist on that claim. In turn, considering the next change of government and the urgency required to address the problem, we request a hearing from the Administration in order to bring perspectives, evidence and alternatives to address the problem tending to achieve respect for rights. fundamental humans who are currently affected.

Likewise, in the insistence claim we once again realized the serious situation that affects Chacras de la Merced, mainly related to health conditions in the communities and socio-environmental conditions that make it difficult to develop their life plan. Situation that is recognized by the Municipality of Córdoba at least since 2014 when it declared for the first time the environmental and sanitary emergency of the EDAR plant and the areas located downstream, status that remains to this day. In the same way, we reiterate the request to make public the information about the tasks carried out by the Municipality in relation to the Mitigation Plan, which has not been provided before repeated requests for access to public information submitted by Fundeps.

The systematic and continuous aggravation of the living conditions of the population of Chacras de la Merced linked to environmental degradation caused by the Edar, and the inaction of the Municipality, who, with its omission, consolidates day-to-day human rights involvement, is that again we demand a definitive solution to the problem of those who suffer from forgetting and environmental discrimination in the city of Córdoba.

On the other hand, and in relation to the problem, we submit a request for access to public information before the Environmental Police Directorate in order to request the Report made by said agency in which it reports Edar’s malfunction. Said report was presented to the Municipality of Córdoba as it transcended, but was not publicized, even before the relevance and public interest that it has while the samples collected by the Environmental Police of the liquids that enter and are discharged without treatment to the River are analyzed. Drought and that, as it transpired, show the serious environmental damage caused by Edar.

More information

Contact

Juan Bautista López, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

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We launched the website “Emergencia Agroquímica”

We launched a participatory website where environmental conflicts related to the use of agrochemicals in the province of Córdoba are made known, as well as providing legal tools and the possibility of making visible the existence of other conflicts of said nature.

“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 website is structured based on three objectives. The first of them aimed at the visibility of socio-environmental conflicts related to the use of agrochemicals in the province of Córdoba. Second, it seeks to provide information and legal resources as necessary tools for the empowerment of communities and for the protection of their rights to health and a healthy environment. Third, it seeks to reinforce the visibility of conflicts through a collaborative platform in which new conflicts can be incorporated, thus expanding the content.

For such purposes, a conflict mapping was prepared based on an analysis of information compiled since 2008, mainly from newspaper articles and online publications related to 18 communities affected by the application of agrochemicals.

The examination of the data revealed relevant characteristics regarding the problem. In this way, it was observed that the vast majority of these conflicts arise from illegal or irregular fumigation, residues of agrochemicals deposited in prohibited places (uncultivated land and fields), fumigating machines that transit through urban centers, damage to biodiversity by the application of chemical products and as a consequence of all the irregularities mentioned, the serious problems in the health of the members of the fumigated communities.

Likewise, the survey revealed similar concerns and demands on the part of the communities regarding the application of agrochemicals. Thus, as a common denominator, these require: ordinances that establish Environmental Reserved Areas with respect to urban areas; the completion of the provincial law that regulates the requirements and minimum distances of application, the carrying out of health studies, among other claims. Other populations, as is the case of the town of Dique Chico, tend to an alternative to “agroecological reconversion” guiding the production from a sustainable and healthy perspective.

The survey work carried out demonstrates the “agrochemical emergency” that exists in numerous localities in the province of Córdoba. The use of agrochemicals without adequate control by the authorities, the non-compliance with current regulations regarding application distances, which also become ineffective for the protection of populations, are factors that not only affect the environment but also constitute a serious public health problem.

In this sense, the statistics show alarming data regarding the existence of certain diseases. For example, from the year 2017 onward, more than half of the deaths in the town of Canals, had their origin in a carcinogenic disease; or the case of the Monte Maíz locality in which the cases of deaths due to cancer exceed three times the average, in addition to being observed in all the localities surveyed numerous cases of malformations, respiratory diseases, spontaneous abortions and other infrequent diseases such as lupus, rematoidea arthritis, among others. These data shed light on the urgent attention that the problem deserves on the part of those who have the responsibility of adapting the controls in the application and to formulate a law respectful of the environment and health, paying attention above all to the needs of those populations most affected.

Access to the site Emergencia Agroquímica 

Authors

Ananda Lavayén

María Laura Carrizo

Contact

Juan Bautista López, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org

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Organizations promote an Open State law in Salta

After several months of waiting, the government of the province of Salta presented a preliminary draft of the Open State, goal committed by the province in 2017 for the III Plan of the Alliance for Open Government. Organizations from all over the country added contributions to the text of the project.

“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”.

After more than a year of delay in fulfilling a commitment assumed by the province of Salta regarding transparency, the organizations finally managed to unblock the discussion and accede to the draft of the Open State Law. It is a commitment that Urtubey undertook within the framework of the Third National Plan of Open Government Action, a work plan signed in 2017 together with areas of the National Executive Power, the Congress, the Council of the Magistracy and other 10 provinces that added subnational commitments.

“Salta does not yet have a law that guarantees access to public information and transparency, if the government fulfills its commitment, and the Open State Law is sanctioned, we will have taken a significant step in terms of institutional and democratic quality.” , says Gonzalo Guzmán Coraita, Director of Transparent Salta.

The bill aims to regulate access to information and transparency in the province, one of the few that does not have this regulation. From the Civil Society the proposal is clear: it is necessary that it be law, and for this the project must finally reach the Legislature and that the debate be open and facing the citizenship to continue participating in the process of formation of the law, for ensure that the regulations are complete and comprehensive, as proposed.

It is fundamental that the regulations reach as mandatory subjects all the powers of the provincial State, that make available not only administrative information but also the relative to the particular work of each area and that are clear the functions and autonomy of the guarantor body, how it will be constituted and its members will be elected.

Salta Transparente, a local organization that heads the work of civil society on issues of transparency, access to information and public ethics, has been working together with the Fundación Directorio Legislativo and provincial organizations to monitor commitments undertaken by governments on transparency and accountability. We worked on recommendations and contributions with organizations from different parts of the country such as Legislative Directory, Citizen Power, Our Mendoza Foundation, Open Knowledge Foundation, Fundeps, CLADH, School of Prosecutors, FEIM, Transparencia Ciudadana Foundation, among others.

On May 21, Governor Urtubey sent the project to the legislature, with some of the changes presented by civil society to the original project. We have not yet received a response and justification on the incorporation of the high comments. The approval of this norm means a great advance at the provincial level in terms of access to information, transparency and open government. It would set a precedent for the advance of the rest of the country in more robust legislation on access to information.

More information:

Contact:

Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org

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What is the national anti-corruption plan that seeks to consolidate “transparency and integrity”?

Corruption is a complex, multifaceted, social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries, with serious consequences. According to the World Bank “… corruption is commonly defined as the abuse of a public or private office for personal gain …”

“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”.

Last Thursday, April 11, the government made official, through a decree, the launch of a new anti-corruption plan that will govern in the 2019-2023 period. This measure was promoted by the Anticorruption Office, headed by Laura Alonso, and by the Secretariat for Institutional Strengthening, which is under the command of Fernando Sánchez. The plan is based mainly on four international conventions that have been ratified by our country:

  1. Inter-American Convention against Corruption of the Organization of American States (CICC).
  2. United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
  3. United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
  4. Convention on the Fight against the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Trade Transactions of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In addition, the evaluations that the monitoring mechanisms have carried out for Argentina have been taken into account.

It is a package of 250 initiatives that will be applied during the next 5 years, in accordance with a variety of priority objectives and strategic guidelines. Each one of them has a specific execution period, whose fulfillment will be in charge of the responsible body that has been assigned to it. The regulations will reach 48 committed state agencies, 22 centralized and 26 decentralized.

According to Laura Alonso, in an interview for the newspaper La Prensa, the new plan is based on “three fundamental axes: promotion of integrity and transparency; the control and punishment of corruption in the administrative sphere; and to commit all the Ministries and the decentralized agencies of the national Executive Power, to propose specific sectoral policies. ”

Among the previously mentioned priority objectives we can find: Institutional strengthening, Modernization of the State and Intelligent insertion to the world, which in turn are related to the strategic guidelines mentioned by the head of the Anticorruption Office. Likewise, as a basis, the plan takes the paradigm of open government and transparency.

Within the proposed reforms and actions, the work is established in:

  • Public procurement systems: everything related to public procurement, establishment of computer systems and the development of participatory tables for the governance of public works are expected to be transparent. Likewise, it seeks to implement integrity programs and open contracting systems.
  • Active focused transparency: refers to the proactive publication of key information on corruption issues: budget, purchases and hiring, staffing, subsidy and transfer beneficiaries, official advertising, financing to political parties, among others. In the same way, the officials involved in public access issues will be trained and an active transparency index will be published.

This series of reforms is a key starting point for the consolidation of an efficient State, with a high degree of transparency and adaptable to the new demands of contemporary society. It is also important that civil society is attentive to compliance and implementation of the measures described in the plan. It is important that a State accompanies measures of sanction and punishment of corruption, with systems of institutional strengthening and transparency that prevent crimes of this type. For this last reason, we celebrate the plan, and we hope it will continue after the 2019 elections. In addition, it is expected that there will be periodic reports showing the progress of the actions underway to complete the proposal.

More information:

Contact:

Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org

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What is the national anti-corruption plan that seeks to consolidate “transparency and integrity”?

Corruption is a complex, multifaceted, social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries, with serious consequences. According to the World Bank “… corruption is commonly defined as the abuse of a public or private office for personal gain …”

Descargar Documento / Download File

Organizations meet with the Federal Council for Transparency for the first time

On May 21, the third meeting of the Federal Council for Transparency in the city of Salta was held. For the first time, a space was opened for the participation of civil society organizations.

“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 third meeting of the Federal Council for Transparency in the city of Salta was held. On May 21, representatives of the provincial governments attended the first session of 2019 of the body created by the national law on access to public information. In 2018, in Buenos Aires, the first two meetings were held and it was decided that for this year the host provinces should be changing. For the second half of the year it is expected that Tierra del Fuego will host the officials.

What is the Federal Council for Transparency? Article 29 of Law 27275 on access to public information establishes that it is an interjurisdictional body of a permanent nature, whose purpose will be technical cooperation and the conclusion of policies on transparency and access to public information.

After the law came into effect at the end of 2017, in the year 2018 the Council began to operate. As the text of the regulation makes explicit, it is an organization in which representatives of all the provinces participate, in order to coordinate policies of transparency and access to information. They meet twice a year, and for the first time, space was opened for civil society organizations to participate. The opening of this instance was thanks to the presentation of a letter, made by the Network of Organizations Against Corruption (of which Fundeps is a founding member) at the end of 2018.

During this third session, Fundeps, Poder Ciudadano and Salta Transparente, we were present on behalf of the ROCC to raise our concerns and perspectives on the situation of the right of access to information at the provincial level. We specifically proposed the creation of a national plan of action for the standardization of transparency principles throughout the national territory. In this regard, the possibility was raised of taking as a starting point, the national law of AIP. Likewise, we mentioned the need for the Council to function as a space that embraces the cause of public ethics, and be able to establish specific guidelines on this subject and access to information (especially, as far as affidavits are concerned).

The session in Salta also aimed to review the mandate and status of the Council. According to Eduardo Bertoni (president of the Council and head of the Access to Public Information Agency), the review would include the incorporation of a space for CSOs permanently in meetings. Also, he assured that the standardization of transparency principles throughout the country is the raison d’être of this organization.

The meeting also had the presence of the World Bank, an institution that has been in charge of gathering data about the status of the regulations on access to public information in the provinces. The advances and results were presented and will be available in the coming days. This study was only of legislative analysis, without deepening the questions of implementation of laws in each province. In general terms, what is thrown by the evaluation accounts for a very different picture of what access to information refers to. While there are provinces with advanced regulations in this matter, others (among which Córdoba could be included), have laws that date back many years and that restrict more than guarantee the right to dispose of the data and information in the hands of the State.

As members of civil society, we applaud the initiative and appreciate the space granted. We hope that for the next meetings, a greater number of representatives of the provinces will attend. Unfortunately, this meeting only had the presence of 7 provinces and particularly, Córdoba was not present. It is fundamental that, in order to achieve a true synergy between the State and the citizenship, each provincial representative should be present in this space. Otherwise, it is not possible to advance in the guarantee of the right of access to information in a comprehensive and complete manner in Argentina.

More information:

Law of Access to Public Information

Website of the Access to Public Information Agency

Minutes of the meetings of the Federal Council for Transparency.

Contact

Agustina Palencia – agustinapalencia@fundeps.org