Equal Access to Public Information - March
2015
Workshop on Access to Public Information in
Argentina concludes on successful note
The High-Level Workshop on
Equal Access to Public Information, jointly
organized by the OAS Department of International
Law (DIL) and the Argentinean Congress, was held
March 10-12 and brought together more than 70
participants, including deputies and their
advisers, representatives of civil society,
academia, and the private sector to discuss the
country's current regulatory framework against
the backdrop of the provisions of the
Inter-American Model Law on Access to Public
Information, its Implementation Guide, and
elements that could be used to define a special
law in this area.
![Workshop on Access to Public Information in Argentina concludes on successful note](http://www.oas.org/es/sla/ddi/imgs/boletines_informativos_acceso_informacion_taller_argentina_Marzo-2015_1.jpg)
© Press - Argentine National Congress
Addressing the opening
session were Dr. Jean-Michel Arrighi, OAS
Secretary for Legal Affairs; Ambassador Nilda
Garré, Permanent Representative of Argentina to
the OAS; David Murphy, chargé d’affaires at the
Embassy of Canada in Argentina; and deputies
Diana Beatriz Conti, María Teresa García, Manuel
Garrido, and Julián Domínguez, President of the
Chamber of Deputies.
In her remarks, Ambassador
Garré noted that “access to information
encourages more efficient and effective action
by the state, especially in the management of
public resources; promotes greater transparency
and accountability; and ... is a tool with
important implications for the strengthening of
democratic governance, for participatory
democracy, and for individual and collective
self-determination.”
The high-level workshop
featured thematic presentations and involved,
among other experts, Rosa María Bárcena,
Director General of Regulatory Analysis and
Evaluation of Information for Mexico’s Federal
Institute of Access to Information and Data
Protection (IFAI); Suzanne Legault, Information
Commissioner of Canada; Gilberto Waller Junior,
Ombudsman, Office of the Attorney General of
Brazil; María Herminia Funes, Commissioner of
the Institute for Access to Public Information
of El Salvador; Patricia Guillén, Chief of Good
Governance and Transparency in the Secretariat
for Public Sector Management, Office of the
President of the Council of Ministers of Peru;
and José María Viega, professor at the
University of the Republic of Uruguay; as well
as prominent institutions working on the issue,
among them the Legislative Directorate, LED
Foundation, Civil Association for Equality and
Justice, the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic
and Social Development, Transparency
International, the Provincial Public Sector
Anti-Corruption and Transparency Directorate,
and the Civil Rights and Citizen Power
Association.
The Special Rapporteur for
Freedom of Expression of the Inter American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Edison Lanza
recalled that the Special Rapporteurship has a
mandate to monitor the development of the right
of Access to public information and presented a
comparative study of the standards held in the
region by the authorities in charge of enforcing
and implementing this right. He also shared some
relevant data from the Rapporteurship’s upcoming
2014 annual report, which has been approved by
the IACHR and will be disseminated shortly by
the OAS Permanent Council.
Interactive sessions and
workshops provided a forum for reflection,
analysis, dialogue, discussion, and drafting of
recommendations for improving the current legal
framework and for examining provisions that a
bill may contain. The panel discussions and
workshops dealt with the core thematic areas of
the Model Law, including the principle of
maximum disclosure, information management, the
system of exceptions, and the role and functions
of information commissions.
Participant after participant thanked the OAS
for this initiative, stressing the need to
continue holding similar events and to promote
the exchange of experiences and technical
expertise in countries of the region.
This workshop is conducted
pursuant to a General Assembly mandate
instructing the DIL to support efforts by member
states that so request, in adopting legislative
and other appropriate measures needed to
guarantee access to public information,
particularly for the implementation of the Model
Law or for continuing to bring themselves into
line with it
AG/RES. 2842 (XLIV-O/14) "Access to Public
Information and Protection of Personal Data".
The initiative is also part
of an OAS-sponsored cooperation project that
receives contribution from the Canadian
government. Its purpose is to increase the
capacity of the Organization's member states in
the area of transparency and equal access to
public information by disseminating and
promoting local implementation of the Model Law
on Access to Public Information, which the OAS
General Assembly adopted in 2010.
To date, the OAS Secretariat
for Legal Affairs' Department of International
Law has organized similar events in Mexico, the
Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru,
and Guatemala.
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the Workshop, please visit our Website
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