The Right of Access to public information as a Fundamental Human Right

Abstract

This article analyzes the right of access to public information and transparency in the disclosure of documents of state management, from its origin, which is dated, since eighteenth century in the Republic of Sweden, but which in our American continent, it is not until a couple of decades ago, when it has been implemented through different international legal instruments. Later, the sentence of “Claude Reyes and others vs Chile” is analyzed. This was the first sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declaring access to public information as a human right.

Likewise, a compilation has been made of which countries in the american continent have such transparency mechanisms and which are the institutes that give life to their standards. Since the beginning of the writing this article, a total of twenty-two countries in the region have such tools.

The present article also analyses the progress of this human right in Honduras, and how it has been developed, with the support of the law of transparency of access to public information and the creation of the Institute for Access to Public Information. It ends with a brief study on the limitations to this right, since not all information can be of public domain for strict reasons of security and national interest. Also the main challenges it currently faces are discussed.