of MéxicoCISAN

National Security andTransparency in MéxicoAlonso Gómez-Robledo Verduzco

Transparency and tlie Right toInformation in MéxicoAnieles by Ángel Trinidad, Is'saLana, Óscar Guerra, MarisolAiigcés, José Rey.noso, AdrianaIfracho, and Fausto Kubli

í'he Constitntioiial Reforra

Canada's Election,North America, and MéxicoImtiaz Hussain andJorge A. Schiavon

Employment in* MéxicoIn the Twenty-First CenturyCiro Murayama

Leonora Carrington,In Memoriam

Elena Poniatowska

Mexico's Women's

History MuseumPatricia Galeana

The PhotographyOf Alfredo De Stéfano

agialt ^y*>

ISSUE 91 AUTUMN 2011 MÉXICO $50 USA $12.00 CANADÁ $15.00

Exhibirse hasta:31 de enero de 2012. Display until January 31, 2012.

Art and Culture

41 Alfredo de StéfanoThe House and the Grave in the LandscapeJuan Antonio Molina

49 Fernando Gallo's Process A9Luis Rias Caso

Splendor of México56 Men and Women healers

IN MEXICO'S 1NDIGENOUS RECIONS TODAY

59 Otomi Specialists fromHidalgo's Eastern MountainsPatricia Gallardo Arias

64 The Eastern Tepehua Shamans. Traditional HealersAnd Diviners Who Make Women and Oíd MenCarlos Guadalupe Heiras Rodríguez

70 Traditional Nahua Therapy.Knowing How to See, to Dream, and to SpeakLaura Romero

76 The Flower BodyMaría Eugenia Olavarría,Cristina Aguilar, and Erica Merino

Museums

80 A Women"s History Museum

In México

Patricia Galeana

In Memoriam

89 Leonora Carrington (1917-2011Elena Poniatowska

Special Section93 transparency and the rlght to

Information in México

94 National Security and Transparency

The Case of México

Alonso Gómez-Robledo Verduzco

98 Transparency

Or Accountability in México

Ángel Trinidad

103 The Social Focus

On Public Information

issa Luna Pía

106 Looking Anead. InformationIn México City's Federal DistrictÓscar Guerra

lio The Right to Environmental InformationIn México. The Key to a False DoorMarisol Anglés Hernández

113 Reflections on: the Right of Access toInformation and Political Parties in MéxicoJosé Reynoso Mñez and Adriana Bracho Alegría

116 The Right to Information in México. Quo uadis:Fausto Kubli-García

Reviews

121 Leonora. The Most Beautiful SorceressTo Have Survived into Our Times

Claire Joysmith

123 Los derechos humanos en las ciencias sociales:una perspectiva multidisciplinariaEmma C. Maza Calviño

125 Un séptimo hombreAlejandra Aquino Moreschi

The Right to EnvironmentalInformation in México

The Key to a False DoorMarisol Anglés Hernández"

Today's governments are at work creating the mecha-nisms for guaranteeing asocial, democratic state withthe rule oflaw, in which transparency about the activ-

ities of public entities has become the rule, and secrets theexception. There is therefore an attempt to make the way olcontrollingand handlingpublic information that left citizensdefenseless in favor ofsupposed "confidentiality' a thing olthe past.

This is linked to the trend in international instruments to

foster public participation in decision-making, which beganto be introduced into national spheres by movements for de-mocracy. Through that process. participation has expanded,fostering the involvement of non-state actors in the construc-tion. design. implementation. and evaluation ol public policios, including environmental policies. This has particularlybeen the case since the I970s. when the human right to livein a suitable environmcnt began to be recognized.

This governmental effort to make rights effective t.likc theright to access to public information as a tool for concretizingthe othcr fundamental rights: the right loconsultation. toparticípate in decision-making, and to asuitable environment)poses ncvv challenges for the law and tremendously significan! responsihilities for the state. It is the latter that mustcréate appropriate instruments for this task. In this contexl,many countries' legal systems. like Me.\ico*s, have been revo-lutionized. Access to government information has been madeinto an individual guarantee, which makcs possible peoples

UNAM Instituto for Legal Research, marisol.angles@yahoo.com.mx.

110

access to the information that anyfederal, state. or municipalauthority orbody may have. InMéxico, this led to the passageof theFederal Law onTransparency andAccess to Public Governmental Information (LFTAIPG), which aims to guarantee

all individuáis*access to federal public information, includingthat pertaining to the environment. with the exception ofclassified information. One point in the law that should beunclerlined is that it does not demand the individual argüe

cause or involvement for his/her request lor information; inaddition, it establishes different ways of accessing it: theinternet, the mail. or ;i direct, personal application at the federal administraron s Community Outreach Units. If accessto the information is denied. the law stipulates a processwhereby the applicant can appeal to the Federal Institute forAccess to Information and Data Protcction.

In theory, the bases for changing the relationship betweensociety and the state have been established, since government actions can be legitimized by ensuring that every public action or omission is subject to the scrutiny of an individual whenever be/shc requests it. Ifwe lookat environmentalissues. we will see that their complexity requires involving allthe actors in society to deal with them. At the same time, thisrequires guaranteeing access to the available environmentalinformation as a prerequisite for participating in making de-cisions that are appropriate and supported by society. andwhich vvould make it possible to move ahead toward sustain-ablc developmcnt.

Parallel to guaranteeing the right to access to public information. the rights lo access to participation and justice have

;:-;?í<f

also been Consolidated. These three rights are the pillarsneeded to concrclize the right to a suitableenvironment. Theseriahts of access began gaining strength by being recognizedindiverse international instruments, among them, the Decla-ration of Rio, adopted in 1992 at the United Nations Summiton the Environment and Development. The Rio Declara-

tion's tenth principie stipulates that the best way ofdealingwith environmental issues is with the participation ol all inter-

estedcitizens. But, toparticípate indecision-making, a fundamental premise isguaranteeing access to information. Basedon this. individuáis can reflect and make judgments about

the actions, measures. or decisions that could affect them. and

take appropriate action.In addition. access to environmental information is also

anessentialinstrument for publicmanagement, thecreationof awareness, education. and co-rcsponsible social participation. The latter can be carried out when society is lully inlor-

med about the environment, its deterioration. Iragilitv, and

the interrelationship between the environment and society,as well as of the impact thatour actions have. including thenegative effeets on our health and well-being. Clearly, theouarantee ol access lo intormation also makes il possible to

further conscious actions oriented lo tdentifying risks and.based on that. making decisions that will tend to reduce orelimínate them; plan for sustainable development; and créateincentives forallsectorsofsocietytoparticípate in improvingthe environment. At the same time, all this contributes to

making the right to a suitable environment a reality.

In theory, the bases forchanging the relationship

between society and the statehave been established,

since government actionscan be legitimized by ensuring

that every public action oromission is subject to scrutiny.

Special Section

It should be pointed out that iwo subjecls are involved in

this right: in the first place, public aulhoritics. the mainpeopleresponsible forgathering, managing, and updating environmental intormation. In thesecond place, citizens arevalidatedlo exercise this rightdirectly. Forthis reason. the guarantee toaccess lo intormation isasinequa ¡ion condition forexercisingthe right to a suitable environment. in which individuáis and

public boches musí particípate co-responsibly.In order lo guarantee the lull exercise ol this right. the hed

er.il Law of EcoIogicaJ Equilibrium and Environmental Protcction (LGEEPA) was reformed in 1996 to incorpórate twocategories ol'ihe right toenvironmental information. The firstinvolves the obligation ol transparency on the part of the

environmental authorities, the Ministryof the Environmentand Natural Resources (Semarnat) and its different techni-

cally semi-autonomous bodies. like the National Commis-sion for Water, (he National Ecology Institute, the FederalEnvironmental Protcction Agencv. and the National Commis-sion for Protected Natural Arcas. This requires the establish-

menl ofa National System of Environmental Intormation andNatural Resources basedon the data on emissions,dumping.trade in biodiversity, cross-border movement of dangerouswaste, ele, provided by those the law itself stipulates mustdo so.The second category is the right of all persons to access

to existing environmental information.Under the i GEEPA, environmental information isconsid-

ered any written, visual, or datábase information environmental aulhoritics have about water, air, soil. flora, fauna.

The right to information has expanded, among other reasons, due to demands for environmental protectionafterthe 1992 Rio Summit

111

Voices of México • 9'

and natural resources in general, as well as the activities ormeasures that affect or could aflect people. The law alsoincludes the possibility that environmental information re-quested maybe denied ifit is legally considerad confidentialorwhen. by its very nalure. its dissemination could affect na-tional security; when it is linked to the legal process or on-goinginspections or surveillance; when it has been providedby third parties who are not legally mandated to provide it;andwhen it involves inventories, inputs. and technologics forprocesses, including their description.

It should be underlined that. according to Semarnat figures, from Septembcr 2009 toAugust 2010,331^ rec|tiestsfor information were made, placing this ministry among thetop four that information was requestcd from. Neverthelcss,this does not mean that these rcquests were satisfactorily dealtwith: in many cases, the application has been received, butthe information has not yet been provided.1 The only thing ibisdemonstrates is that, despite legislalive progress. the adop-lion of intemational instruments. and the mechanisms forenvironmental man.igement. theauthorities are not really com-mitted to fulñlling the mándate of generating, processing,updating. and disseminating environmental information. Ihis,inturn.makes il difficult forpeople toexercisetheir environmental rights in practice based on the use of the existingmechanisms.

To that end, ¡i is indispensable to improve and updateenvironmental information systems; adopt indicators to monitor the processes fosiering environmental democracy; créatenetworksand alliances to bolster efforts in evaluiUing environ

mental management; and créate inier-sectoral cooperationprograms that would make it possible to improve the currentinformation access systems. Il is also necessary lo establishuniform criteria for fulñlling environmental information obli-gations. such as in the Registries of Fmissions and TranslersofContaminaras, so that it is really possible to evalúate andmeasure the data they contain. f.astly, public participationin formulating and evaluating policios, plans. and programsmust be prometed.

In theimaginaryof acountrv-in which everyone becomesinvolved in the effort to concretize the righi to a suitableenvironment, diverse legal instruments make public participation possible. Among them are the evaluation ol environmental impaets, environmental audits, and declaringcertainnatural áreas protected. All these mechanisms include participation through consultation mechanisms. However, it isnot enoush to have instítutional meaos il we lack the lun-

112

The Rio Declaration in 1994 stipulatesthat the best way of dealing with environmentalissues is with the participation of all interested

citizens and a fundamental premiseis guaranteeing access to information.

damentalelement for maintainingourdemands. that is. ifwe

do not have guarantecd access to truthful. timely, impartialinformation. This makes il malerially impossible for society toparticípate co-responsiblyin planning, e.xecuting. evaluating,and monitoring environmental policy. as well as to demandits right to a suitable environment.

In addition lo this. we find that, with these omissions, the

Mexican stale infringes on certain human rights guaranteedin the intemational instruments it is a party to. Ihis is thecaseofCovenant 169 of the International Labor Organization

on Indigenous andTribal Peoples in Independent Countries.which includes among its ohjectives the guarantee ol theright to information and consultation through an open. trank,meaningful, timely discussion among governments, commu-nities. ,w¿ first peoples about the measures that could affectthe natural resources on their lands and territories, in order to

allow them to particípate effectively in thedecision-makingprocess.

Based on this premise. in thecurrent context ot globali-zation. the clash between economic and sustainahlc develop

ment policies is unquestionable. Although in política] discourse.they seem to he in harmony. practice shows US that vvhat ishappening is that large foreign development projeets arebeing encouraged, with no regare! for the fact thal they créateenvironmental and social strife as a result of violatingthe right

of access to information. consultation, and participation in

making the decisions that may affect those involved. Obviously,the legal systems in and of themselves do not ensure publicaccess to environmental intormation.

Undoubtedly, the recognition ofthe right to access to public information is an importan! achievement. I lowever. realaccess to information is a challenge thal rcmains lo be rcal-

ized. In México, people need government information aboutenvironmental impact, contaminating emissions. dangerouswaste. environmental liabilities, endangered specíes, etc., tobe ablc to contribute to sirengthening environmental co-res-ponsíbility, the rule of law. and respect for human rights.

Special Section

his importan! to be clear that it is not enough to include their implementation and follow-up. This means that in ourineffective stipulations in the environmental legislative cat- country, we have along way to go before we achieve the ful!alogue; their dehcieneies limit the full exercise of rights, in guarantee of the rights to access to environmental informa-this case, the right to access to environmental information. lion. participation. and justice. IHMInstead. they open afalse door to expeclations that fall aparltogether with othcr rights, like the e.xpectation of being ablc ¡^)JESto be part of the deíiberaiive process thal all governmentaldecisions go through -or should go through- as well as 'Semarnat. Ctmrto injonn ele labores Meáco City: Semarnat, 2010). p207