Access to Information and Human Rights in the Americas
Semester
Since 2002, six countries in Latin America have passed Freedom of Information laws that explicitly prohibit using secrecy to withhold information related to human rights abuses and crimes against humanity. But if governments can no longer shield themselves from human rights inquiries with national security claims, does that mean information is now being made available for human rights cases as a result?
The objective of the Capstone project was to produce an analysis of the impact of current Freedom of Information laws on national efforts to uncover information about past human rights crimes. The project will examine three case studies -- Mexico, Peru and Brazil - to evaluate the extent to which human rights organizations have obtained official documentation in support of their investigations Into gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity. Mexico and Peru both passed federal access to information laws in 2002, and have had almost a decade of practice using the laws to obtain records and government data. Brazil is in the middle of a national debate about whether to pass its own access to information law, and as such was used by the project to assess the creative legal strategies required by investigators to obtain information without recourse to a dedicated law. The analysis produced by Capstone students served as an advocacy tool for openness and human rights activists, and helped the Evidence Project design an action plan to improve human rights accountability in the Americas.