Newsletter - January 2010
Access to Information
 The
Department of International Law is in the process of
writing a Model Inter-American Law on Access to
Public Information, as well as a guide for its
implementation, a task entrusted to the Department by
the General Assembly in resolution
AG/RES. 2514 (XXXIX-O/09).
In line with the resolution, the Department created a
group of experts that includes renowned authorities
on the subject of access to information in the
Americas. Participants from civil society include
Laura Neuman from the Carter Center in Atlanta, and
Eduardo Bertoni from the Center for Studies on
Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, in
Buenos Aires, as well as several member organizations
of the Regional Alliance for the Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information. Representatives
of the member states include Damien Cox, Director of
the Access to Information Unit in Jamaica; María
Marvan, Commissioner of the Federal Institute of
Access to Public Information in Mexico; Melanie Anne
Pustay, Director of Information Access in the United
States; and Juan Pablo Olmedo, President of the
Transparency Council in Chile. 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; and Pablo
Saavedra, Secretary of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights.
The group has met twice in experts’ workshops, on 2-3
September and 1-2 December, where progress was made
in discussing and writing preliminary versions of the
two instruments. A drafting committee is currently
reviewing the two documents in order to take into
account the discussions and consensus reached at the
second meeting. These versions will be submitted to
the consideration of the group of experts at its next
meeting, scheduled for 16-17 March 2010.
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 for the development and
improvement of the living conditions for the
population.
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