White Lily Ibarra Chain
Forty-seven years ago, the phrase “the State shall guarantee the right to information” was added to Article 6 of the Constitution. This constitutional recognition of the right to know was only enforceable for political parties in order to ensure conditions of equity in the dissemination of political proposals in the media.
Following this event, a process of improvement began for the effective guarantee of this right. Thus, thanks to the citizen initiative to know and participate in public life, at the beginning of this century, that is, 25 years after the aforementioned constitutional amendment, the right of access to public information was recognized as an individual guarantee that obliged the State to provide true, complete and objective information about its actions and decisions. A conquest of society that made the right to know and ask enforceable to the State.
The evolution of this right included regulatory reforms that allowed for the availability of the minimum and appropriate elements to access information and guarantee its exercise in an autonomous, impartial, technical and specialized manner. With the creation of an autonomous institution at the service of society: the National Institute of Transparency, a new relationship was established between citizens and authorities.
For a decade, the INAI has promoted the consolidation of these rights in our country, as fundamental tools that allow us to promote citizen participation, knowledge of public management and government accountability. It is about making increasingly public what should be in the eyes of everyone.
However, with the approval of the constitutional reform on administrative simplification, which seeks to eliminate autonomous constitutional bodies, including the INAI, these social achievements are at risk. If their disappearance were to materialize, it would represent a serious setback, which would directly and negatively impact the guarantee of the rights and freedoms of Mexicans.
The powers of the INAI are the result of a long normative, social and democratic process to effectively guarantee this human right; attempting to eliminate an institution that is the heritage of Mexicans requires a prior broad, open and constructive dialogue that involves all the actors.
We therefore reiterate our openness and intention to participate in the discussion on this topic. It is an institution that has cost us years to build.
@bl_ibarra