(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 21 October 2005 IAPA press release: IAPA condemns public records barrier in Argentina Legislators to be quizzed on access to information bill at Chapultepec Forum in Buenos Aires, November 2-3 Miami, Florida (October 21, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today criticized an Argentine municipal government’s refusal […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 21 October 2005 IAPA press release:
IAPA condemns public records barrier in Argentina
Legislators to be quizzed on access to information bill at Chapultepec Forum in Buenos Aires, November 2-3
Miami, Florida (October 21, 2005) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today criticized an Argentine municipal government’s refusal to provide information to a local newspaper that has unsuccessfully been seeking details on the municipality’s staff, administration and operations for more than a year.
Exactly one year ago, on October 21, 2004, the La Plata-based daily newspaper El Día filed a complaint against the La Plata municipal government which, since the previous May, had been refusing to hand over information on how many employees it had and its agencies and departments. On 22 February 2005, the court hearing the case ruled in favor of El Día. The city appealed the ruling, however, and it has still not provided access to the material.
Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said, “the municipal government is holding back information of public interest as if it were a state secret, which we regard as one of the few exceptions to the general rule [on access to information] and which clearly is not the case here.”
Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, added that the La Plata municipal government’s refusal to provide access to public records “does not comply with the [government’s] duty to be accountable and transparent and is a violation of the people’s rights and guarantees in a democracy.”
The IAPA is a strong advocate of laws guaranteeing access to public records, a principle set out in the IAPA-sponsored Declaration of Chapultepec, which states, “The authorities must be compelled by law to make available in a timely and reasonable manner the information generated by the public sector.”
In the Western Hemisphere, access to information laws exist in Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic and are currently under debate in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Argentina.
On November 2-3, the IAPA’s Chapultepec Committee will be holding in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a discussion forum with legislators and journalists. The agenda will include an analysis of a proposed bill on access to information.
