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Access to Information, Transparency and the Private Sector
The turbulent economic history in Latin America and the destabilising financial crises experienced by Brazil, Argentina and Mexico in recent years have bred a heightened awareness of transparency issues within the region. It has been increasingly recognised that one of the prerequisites for the development of robust and sustainable markets in the long-term is good governance. The broad-ranging public reforms necessary to accomplish good governance have been at the heart of many countries’ ability to tackle budget deficits, the fierce external competition they encounter in a globalised market and a perceived lack of confidence in government amongst the general public. There is growing recognition that financial difficulties stem from weaknesses in state institutions and that durable solutions to these problems will only be identified and effectively applied if these governance issues are confronted.
 
One of the remedies to flawed governance has been found in the wave of transparency legislation that has swept across the globe in recent years. Over fifty countries around the world have now passed freedom of information acts (FOIAs). These laws provide an administrative framework that permits individuals to exercise their right to obtain information that is in the public interest. This, in turn, facilitates greater public debate, encourages citizen participation and fosters genuine consultation, which together entrench democratic culture and contribute to the stable social and political environment necessary for economic development. Anti-corruption experts estimate that 20 percent ($50 billion) of the total spent on public procurements in Latin America is excess resulting from corruption. By making commercial information available to private companies, there will be a reduced margin for bribery, fraud and closed-door deal making.
 
Private companies can benefit from using access to information legislation. In mature democracies, the business sector has shown itself to be the largest active user of access to information laws as companies attempt to obtain documents informing them of upcoming public procurement tenders and the details of successful past bids. In a world where stakeholders are increasingly impacted upon by big business but are also more savvy, connected and easily able to exchange information than ever before, there is a growing argument that companies themselves must become more open and transparent in order to avoid the scandals and negative publicity that damage their reputation. It is in part for this reason that more and more businesses are paying attention to the context in which they work and their social impact, recognizing that they stand much to gain by improving their transparency records and placing commitments to do so at the heart of their core corporate strategies.
 
Activities 
Through a series of working group meetings with members of private companies in Mexico and the targeted release of information requests to government, we aim to raise awareness of the right to information amongst private bodies by opening a new door for access to information usage. Our collaboration with a small, dedicated core of business people working in the area of public procurements will enable us to bring the access to information discussion to the table in the private sector. Over time, we intend for our work to have a trickledown effect as private bodies increasingly use the access to information law to their benefit. This will enable them to inform their public procurement bids, minimise corruption and to operate in a more open and accountable manner.
 
Contact details 
For further information about our work with the private sector in Mexico, please contact Dario Ramirez, Project Coordinator, at dario@article19.org or Bethan Grillo, Programme Director at bethan@article19.org

Regional Access to Information Project 
The political and economic landscape continues to shift within the Latin American region. Steady economic growth over the past year has buoyed many of the leaders on the continent, with Brazil and Mexico leading an investment boom, but there continues to be a long, hard road ahead for the consolidation of democracy. Many Latin Americans, although loathe to return to the authoritarianism of the past, remain unconvinced by the democracy they have so far experienced. This is unsurprising due to the fact that millions constantly hover below the poverty line in countries where income disparities are among the greatest in the world. We continue to believe that access to information, good governance and transparency issues together form an area of opportunity to achieve significant reform both at a national and local level. It is for this reason that our access to information projects will remain the backbone of the programme’s work. The project’s target countries, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, represent three different stages in the development of access to information legislation.
 
In Brazil, there is increasing national debate around the need for a freedom of information law and draft legislation has recently been presented to Congress. In a public survey, 51% of respondents answered that federal corruption had grown worse or much worse during the previous two years; 41% said it was worsening at state level; and 40% gave the same response about municipal corruption. This, in part, has driven popular interest in the issue of access to information and its related function as a tool to promote greater transparency.
 
Argentina has been profoundly affected by economic crises in the past and there are constant efforts made to create a more stable environment for growth. In the months prior to the initiation of our regional project, civil society groups had been locked into debates with the Senate over the future of draft access to information being considered at the time. The campaign had been ongoing for several years and was its main advocates were very disappointed in 2005 when the draft Bill they had been championing lost parliamentary status. We have since been participating in strategic discussions of how and when to resuscitate the campaign in order to drive the movement forward.
 
Mexico is perhaps the most advanced country in the region with respect to access to information issues. The law passed in 2002 was well conceived and broadly compatible with international standards in this area. Mexico has since become a leading light for implementation with many innovative mechanisms established to assist the process. With strong foundations in place, there is greater freedom to explore the linkages between the right to access information and different social sectors. With a new administration taking office in December 2006, it is increasingly important to ensure the access to information agenda remains on the front burner and that progress continues to be made in the implementation of the law.
 
Activities 
One of the central purposes of our regional project is to facilitate international exchange and best-practice and to this end, we will conduct a series of stakeholder roundtables and seminars involving senior members of government, international experts, lawyers, journalists and leading advocates. We will provide a variety of resources to these groups including best-practice guidelines, training manuals and toolkits to inform their independent activities as they campaign for and implement legislation. A legal working group, based in Brazil, will analyses draft laws against international standards with support from ARTICLE 19’s Law Programme. Direct meetings with government will be held to discuss any draft legislation produced within the project timeframe and to encourage champions of the legislation within Congress.
 
 
For more information, please contact Rafael Barca, Projects Director (Rafael@article19.org) or Bethan Grillo, Programme Director (bethan@article19.org) 
 

Access to Information and the Reproductive and Sexual Health of Young People in Mexico   
In order for young people to enjoy the right to reproductive and sexual health, it is imperative to overcome the many barriers that prevent them from receiving support and protection. Most adolescents wish to take responsibility for their own reproductive and sexual health lives but oftentimes, there are few spaces for them to participate in public life in order to change the policies and practices that govern them. Every year in Mexico 850,000 abortions are carried out, the majority of which involve women between the ages of 20 and 34. 70% of those who develop AIDS become infected during adolescence. Sexual and reproductive health services are not always sensitive to the needs of young people and rarely include a gender perspective.
In order for civil society groups to effectively promote and protect the right of young people to exercise their reproductive and sexual health in public arenas, they need official information about the government policies that affect their daily lives. Open societies have become the badge of democracy and the right to freedom information is perhaps their most important dimension; it has long been recognised as a fundamental human right and the cornerstone for the realisation of all other rights. The recent promulgation of an access to information law in Mexico has created a new mechanism to enable organisations to obtain State-held documents in the public interest. Groups are now using this legislation to obtain information related to key issues of concern in the country including adolescent pregnancy, maternal mortality, abortion and HIV/AIDS.
The importance of their strategy has recently been underscored in a very high profile manner as civil society groups have focused upon the need to root out and expose poor decision-making within central government. When a coalition of non-governmental organisations realised that 30 million pesos (approximately US$3 million) had been directed away from HIV/AIDS prevention activities, they used the transparency law to clarify where this funding had been channelled and why it had been pruned from the original budget. The coalition obtained a series of government documents which revealed that the 30 million pesos had been reassigned to women’s centres closely connected to a pro-life committee. Further investigation confirmed that this decision was unlawful and the coalition has since filed a claim before the House of Representatives. This is the first time civil society groups have formally denounced the abuse of power by a Congress member.
 
In order to support groups using the access to information law to promote the reproductive and sexual rights of young people, this project is designed to address the serious constraints they face in terms of the poor quality of government held information available to them. Although real progress has been made at a federal level, problems persist within many of Mexico’s states. Often the official information requested by young people in areas relating to sexuality, contraceptive use, HIV/AIDS testing and information, and legal abortion services, for example, is restricted or released in only an incomplete form. The government also fails to produce current information and frequently bases its health programme plans on data that is old, flawed and unreliable. In many cases, civil society requests illustrate the absence of key information on problems that need to be addressed and which ought to form an integral part of the evaluation of a policy’s impact. This severely undermines the ability of groups to carry out budget analyses, research, monitoring and advocacy in order to protect the right to reproductive and sexual health.
 
Activities  
Steered by a working group formed by our project partners, ARTICLE 19 is carrying out a monitoring exercise of central departments within the Ministry of Health to test the extent to which the access to information legislation is being implemented. Cross-sector meetings have been held amongst NGOs working in the field of reproductive and sexual health, senior Ministry officials and the federal access to information oversight body (the IFAI) in order to determine where the provision of information to the public is inadequate and to examine ways in which government practices can be changed in order to improve the situation. A research report detailing the legal and practical obstacles to accessing health information and citing clear recommendations to all stakeholders will be published by ARTICLE 19 in 2007. Throughout next year, we will carry out training sessions for government officials in Mexico City and in states where information access and government transparency are identified as poor. 
 
Contact details
For more information, please contact Alexandra Garita, Programme Officer, (alexandrag@article19.org) or or Bethan Grillo, Programme Director (bethan@article19.org)