Polémica por el acceso a la información pública — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Well, we often demand that transparency
2. 0:02at a national level, but what about at
3. 0:05home? How are we doing there? We ask
4. 0:07ourselves, don't we?
5. 0:07Yes. And does the state have to do it?
6. 0:10Should it do it? Why does it refuse to
7. 0:12do so? Well, let's discuss this with an
8. 0:14expert, María Victoria Civila, Nina
9. 0:16Svila, lawyer, master in human rights
10. 0:18governance, member of the Foundation
11. 0:20for the Development of Sustainable
12. 0:22Policies.
13. 0:22How are you, Nina?
14. 0:24Hello, how are you? Good morning. How
15. 0:26are you doing? Well, the question is,
16. 0:29uh, very, very obvious, right? If we
17. 0:33pay taxes and we have, as the
18. 0:35legislator said, these public servants
19. 0:37who are accountable to the citizens,
20. 0:39why can't we know, uh, how much they
21. 0:42earn, who the legislators are, and how
22. 0:44many advisors they have, for example,
23. 0:47or does a scandal have to happen for us
24. 0:49to find out what's going on?
25. 0:53Right. Yes. Well, and as, as you were
26. 0:56saying, right? Uh, what should happen,
27. 0:59let's say, and it is provided for, I
28. 1:02mean, what is happening here is that
29. 1:04something we have, uh, completely
30. 1:06provided for since Article 1 of the
31. 1:08Constitution, which establishes the
32. 1:10republican system of government, and
33. 1:12onwards, is not being complied with. I
34. 1:16mean, the Constitution of the province
35. 1:18of Córdoba also takes special care to
36. 1:20reinforce this right, and it does so
37. 1:22specifically regarding state income and
38. 1:24assets. This is in an article of the
39. 1:27Provincial Constitution, for example. I
40. 1:32mean, everything is provided for. And,
41. 1:36uh, I also like to make it clear that
42. 1:38it is a human right that anyone should
43. 1:41be able to exercise, because I also
44. 1:43wonder if this happens to those who
45. 1:45hold public office, like, for example,
46. 1:48a legislator, a legislator who requests
47. 1:50information and is not given it, or a
48. 1:53media outlet. Uh, what is left for the
49. 1:57rest of the citizenry? We have an
50. 1:59intermediate position because we are a
51. 2:02civil society organization that, well,
52. 2:04that's what we dedicate ourselves to.
53. 2:07So we already have a certain amount of
54. 2:09practice, uh, in doing it, which
55. 2:10doesn't mean it hasn't been difficult
56. 2:12for us. We also had to litigate, uh, on
57. 2:16several occasions for information
58. 2:18requests on different topics and in
59. 2:19different departments. Uh, in 2019 we
60. 2:23obtained a, we managed to get a ruling
61. 2:25from the Supreme Court, which is the
62. 2:28only one in Córdoba, and I hope it
63. 2:30will be used as a precedent now.
64. 2:33Because, as they rightly said, there is
65. 2:36no reason not to allow this information
66. 2:38to be published, which is very basic,
67. 2:40because beyond the lists, the names,
68. 2:42and so on, it is about the use of
69. 2:44public funds, which is provided for
70. 2:47everywhere, whether they are officials
71. 2:49or non-officials. In this case, but,
72. 2:53people who perform a public function,
73. 2:55it should clearly be accessible. Nina,
74. 2:58here in the province, they are saying,
75. 3:00"No, I won't give you access to public
76. 3:02information." And the justice system,
77. 3:04through the prosecutor's office, is
78. 3:06also saying that it is not appropriate.
79. 3:09And I didn't see the reason why the
80. 3:11court, which is the chamber that
81. 3:12already ruled, I didn't see the reason
82. 3:14why they said that. It will have to
83. 3:18reach the Supreme Court of Justice and,
84. 3:20well, let's hope that they make use of
85. 3:22the legislation and current standards
86. 3:24there. I don't know the specific reason
87. 3:28why they said no; we would have to see,
88. 3:31but if it is as simple as it is
89. 3:33presented, I don't see any reason why
90. 3:35it could be rejected, let's say.
91. 3:39If we go back to the fact that this
92. 3:41scandal began on January 16th, we would
93. 3:44have to say what a good citizen that
94. 3:47cashier was for deciding to show that
95. 3:49something wasn't working right, that
96. 3:52something wasn't ethical, right? But
97. 3:55Nina, how much interest do we citizens
98. 3:58have in our daily lives to really know
99. 4:01about this, or do we wait for scandals
100. 4:04to complain and get angry?
101. 4:07Well, that is a very interesting and
102. 4:09also very profound question at the same
103. 4:11time. I am going to appeal to an author
104. 4:14, Oszlak, who studies these topics of
105. 4:16participatory governance and so on. And
106. 4:20it is also true that perhaps by default
107. 4:23, people may be more occupied with
108. 4:25their daily, private lives, etc. I mean
109. 4:28, we shouldn't assume that all people
110. 4:31at all times are actively interested in
111. 4:34knowing. There may be different groups,
112. 4:37depending on what you do for a living
113. 4:39and so on. But I repeat, that is not a
114. 4:43reason for denial, especially when this
115. 4:46possibility of exercising a right is
116. 4:49used, which is also natural for
117. 4:51journalism to do. That is why it is so
118. 4:56valuable that such activity or
119. 4:58intermediary organizations like ours
120. 5:00are perhaps the ones that push or
121. 5:03enable that exercise of rights to
122. 5:05expand. I like to emphasize that anyone
123. 5:11can do it too. So, let's put ourselves
124. 5:14in a position of equality as well.
125. 5:17Thanks, Nina. Thank you very much. Well
126. 5:19, we'll have to wait and see if this
127. 5:20continues to escalate and reaches the
128. 5:22Superior Court of Justice, the TSJ, the
129. 5:23province's highest judicial body. Thank
130. 5:25you so much.
131. 5:26To you.