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first open government week
20
JUNE 2006
Argentina Celebrates First "National Right to Public
Information Week": May 20-27, 2007 By
Carlos Osorio and Jesse Franzbalu
Argentina
has joined Mexico
and the United
States in creating a week-long celebration of open government.
On May 20-27, Argentine newspapers and civil society organizations
carried out the first Semana Nacional del Derecho a
la Información Pública. The campaign
encouraged citizens to use or demand for local and freedom
of information (FOI) laws, and culminated with the national
publication of an access to information guide, entitled
"¿Vos
Sabés?" (Do you know?) distributed
across the country.
Throughout
the week, newspapers published articles and editorials addressing
issues relating to transparency and open government, and
NGO's carried on discussions with the private sector on
how access to information combats corruption and benefits
the business community. Regional governments were also directly
confronted with FOI legislation and pressured to approve
the laws on the spot.
One
of the primary topics of discussion was the absence of a
FOI law at the national level in Argentina, an initiative
which failed to pass through both chambers of congress in
2005, and continues to stall. The week-long initiative led
by the Center
for the Implementation of Public Policies for Equality and
Growth - CIPPEC, and the major national newspaper Clarín,
was joined by the journalists' association ADEPA,
and civil rights organizations as well as dozens of regional
newspapers including Cordoba city's prestigious La
Voz del Interior.
The
"¿Vos Sabes?" guide covered the
following topics:
"What
is the right to know?
What is access to information for?
Exercising our rights in five steps [how to file a request
including a sample letter]
Access to information around the world
Access to information in Argentina
Decree 1172/03 [Current federal regulation on access to
information] Access
to information in Cordoba [included in the regional
newspaper]"
CIPPEC
elaborated on these points in the advocacy guide created
to explain the most efficient way to structure an official
information request. The aim of this guide is to provide
the tools necessary for any citizen to seek and obtain government
information. The guide provides a boilerplate request to
be used as a model, as well as a list of the appropriate
Argentine government liaisons in charge of processing information
requests.
The
guide advises the public to use standing national and local
laws. Although narrower than an access to information law,
in December 2003 President Nestor Kirchner did pass a Presidential
Decree - Decreto
1172 that allows for public access to records of
the executive branch. There are also a number of jurisdictions
that have enacted FOI laws or regulations on the provincial
level. However, since Argentina has not been able to pass
a transparency law at the national level openness advocates
also use international interpretations of the right to information.
When creating an information request, for example, experts
recommend citing international treaties such as Article
19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article
13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, and Article
19 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights,
which is incorporated into Argentina's National Constitution
through Article 75, Section 22.
Openness
advocates in Argentina stress the problem that most people
are not aware of their right to access public information,
and few have the necessary means to solicit government records.
As civil society groups continue to widen the spectrum of
actors in Argentina's openness movement, events such as
these will help pressure the government to move forward
in enacting a FOI law that covers all areas of government.
