Newsletter - April 2010
Access to Information
 The Department of International Law (DIL) organized
the third meeting of the Group of Experts on
Access to Information from March 16-18, 2010, to
finish drafting the Model Inter-American Law on
Access to Public Information and its respective
guide for implementation.
The Group of Experts finished the texts of the model
law and implementation guide, which will be
submitted formally to the member states at the
regular meeting of the Committee on Juridical and
Political Affairs on April 29, 2010. The
preparation and presentation of these documents is
being done in compliance with the General Assembly
mandates contained in resolution AG/RES. 2514
(XXXIX-O/09).
\Pursuant
to that resolution, the DIL formed a group of
recognized experts in the field, including
representatives of civil society, the member states,
and the organs, bodies, and entities of the OAS. The
group of experts includes, inter alia, Laura
Neuman of the Carter Center in Atlanta, Eduardo
Bertoni of the Center for Studies on Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information in Buenos
Aires, and several member organizations of the
Regional Alliance for the Freedom of Expression and
Information. Representatives of the member states
include Damien Cox, Director of the Access to
Information Unit in Jamaica; María Marván,
Commissioner of the Federal Institute of Access to
Public Information in Mexico; Melanie Anne Pustay,
Director of Information Access in the United States;
Juan Pablo Olmedo, President of the Transparency
Council in Chile; and Patricia Guillén of the Public
Management Secretariat in Peru. Participants from
OAS organs, bodies, and entities include David
Stewart of the Inter-American Juridical Committee;
Catalina Botero, Rapporteur for Freedom of
Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights; Pablo Saavedra, Secretary of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights; and María del
Carmen Palau of the Department of State
Modernization and Good Governance; as well as
lawyers from the Department of International Law.
In the region, the member states have recognized
that access to information is a basic tool for
citizen participation in the democratic system, and
an essential component for ensuring responsibility
and transparency in government services, both of
which are of key importance in the development and
improvement of the living conditions for the
population.
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