(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 21 April 2004 IAPA press release: IAPA pleased with new ruling by Mexican Judicial Branch on Access to Information Miami (April 21, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said today that it is pleased with a new ruling by the Federal Judicial Branch in Mexico for implementing […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 21 April 2004 IAPA press release:
IAPA pleased with new ruling by Mexican Judicial Branch on Access to Information
Miami (April 21, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said today that it is pleased with a new ruling by the Federal Judicial Branch in Mexico for implementing the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, and applauds this effort to facilitate citizens’ scrutiny into court proceedings.
On March 30, members of the Supreme Court and the Federal Judiciary Council unanimously issued a ruling that will allow the general public to review court rulings and settlements that are made during the litigation process. Among other measures, the move also orders both institutions to place court decisions on the Internet.
The chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Rafael Molina, and the chairman of the Chapultepec Committee, Sergio Muñoz, sent a letter to the Chief Justice of the Mexican Supreme Court, Mariano Azuela Güitrón, in which they expressed IAPA’s satisfaction that he met his commitment made at the Judicial Conference on Freedom of the Press, held last January in Mexico. At the time, the Chief Justice said he would push forward a ruling that would allow for the maximum openness in information.
Molina, from the Dominican Republic-based El Nacional, and Muñoz, from the Los Angeles Times, based in California, also stressed in the letter their confidence that “court officials from throughout the country will consider abiding by these measures adopted by the Supreme Court that, among other advances, call for the release of rulings and settlements in court cases.”
Both believe the new ruling “is a step forward in strengthening democracy and the right of all citizens to receive information.”
Even though the IAPA expressed its approval when Congress passed the Transparency Law in June 2002, it had been questioning its lack of clarity in regards to defining the process via which government officials should make information available to the public.
The IAPA had reiterated the need for a law on access to information at a meeting it sponsored in February 2001, in Mexico City. Afterwards, the Oaxaca Group, comprised of journalists and academics, led an initiative that resulted in the passing of the law on transparency and access. Meanwhile, the IAPA continued to call on President Vicente Fox for the implementation of procedures to facilitate access to public information.
