April 24, 2020 / COVID-19 / Personal Data Protection
Communication INAI/130/20 issued on April 24, 2020, by the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information, and Protection of Personal Data (INAI).
In a virtual conference, Commissioner Oscar Guerra Ford stated that INAI works to prioritize the publication of relevant health information, promoting proactive transparency mechanisms and suitable means to make it available for population vulnerable sectors. Among other things, Guerra Ford emphasized the following:
- The INAI developed the microsite Transparencia Proactiva COVID-19 (COVID-19 Proactive Transparency), in which the public may consult requests for information regarding the subject, together with the answers given by the health authority to the most frequent questions.
- Through the National Transparency System, there is coordination with all the guarantor bodies of Mexico to implement proactive transparency practices in the states.
- Citizens may continue to exercise their right to access information, even though the deadlines for uploading transparency obligations have been suspended until May 30 due to the suspension of work.
- Together with the INAI Commissioner, participated Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; Jorge Jaraquemada, President of the Council for Transparency of Chile; and Germán Emanuele, Director of Transparency of the organization Poder Ciudadano of Argentina (Civil Power Organization of Argentina), as moderator.
The virtual conference was organized by the National Foundation for Development in El Salvador (FUNDE), the organizations of Citizen Action and the National Chapter of Transparency International, in coordination with the Institute of Access to Public Information of El Salvador (IAIP), to discuss provisions, proposals, and best practices to exercise the right of access to information in COVID-19 times.