Lo siguiente fue escrito por Natalia Albañil, Coordinadora del Programa de Transparencia Legislativa Regional, NDI Colombia. 

En las últimas semanas se llevaron a cabo dos importantes eventos regionales en materia de Parlamento Abierto. El 25 y 26 de mayo en Asunción – Paraguay se realizó el primer encuentro anual de la Red de Parlamento Abierto de ParlAmericas, y el 31 de mayo, 1 y 2 de junio en Montevideo – Uruguay, el Encuentro Regional de la Alianza para el Gobierno Abierto (Open Government Partnership, OGP).

En el encuentro de ParlAmericas participaron 52 legisladores de 20 países de América: Antigua y Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Canadá, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, República Dominicana, Santa Lucia y Venezuela. Durante los dos días de trabajo se compartieron experiencias exitosas en materia de Parlamento Abierto y los anfitriones presentaron su Primer Plan de Acción elaborado de manera conjunta con organizaciones de la sociedad civil.

El tema trascendental en la reunión de Asunción, además de socializar diversas experiencias, fue discutir la hoja de ruta para la apertura legislativa. Documento que busca ofrecer un marco de acción para que los parlamentos elaboren sus propios planes y/o iniciativas de Parlamento Abierto en torno a cuatro pilares: transparencia y acceso a la información pública, rendición de cuentas, participación ciudadana y probidad y ética parlamentaria.

El Encuentro Regional de OGP, aunque no giró exclusivamente entorno al tema de Parlamento Abierto si tuvo tres importantes espacios donde se compartieron experiencias y se recogieron valiosas opiniones. Durante la Desconferencia de las OSC se abrió una mesa de trabajo sobre Parlamento Abierto, donde el debate giró en torno al rol que juegan las OSC y cómo los mecanismos de transparencia y apertura, pueden ayudar a mejorar los niveles de confianza ciudadana en los Parlamentos.

Dentro de la agenda del Encuentro se abrieron dos paneles sobre los desafíos y avances de Parlamento Abierto en la región. El primero fue el organizado por ParlAmericas y la Red Latinoamericana de Transparencia Legislativa, en el cual participaron: el diputado chileno Patricio Vallespín, la Senadora de Costa Rica Karla Prendas, el investigador de FUNDAR, Guillermo Ávila y la Directora de la Organización Accesa de Costa Rica, María Fernanda Avendaño. El segundo panel, organizado por el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Apertura Legislativa (Legislative Openness Working Group, LOWG), contó con la participación de la Diputada de Argentina, Karina Banfi; el asesor principal del Presidente del Senado colombiano, Manuel Gómez, la Directora de la Fundación Directorio Legislativo de Argentina, María Barón y la Directora de la Organización Semillas para la Democracia de Paraguay, Marta Ferrara.

En dos estos paneles se expusieron diferentes aproximaciones que se han dado en la región a Planes de Acción de Parlamento Abierto. Costa Rica y Paraguay son ejemplos de trabajo participativo entre OSC y los Congresos nacionales. En Chile la elaboración de su Plan de Parlamento Abierto fue iniciativa de la Comisión Bicameral de Transparencia; en Colombia, la iniciativa nació del ejecutivo, pero fue desarrollado conjuntamente con las mesas directivas de ambas cámaras. Y en Argentina, aunque hasta el momento no hay un Plan concreto de Parlamento Abierto, la discusión que actualmente se lleva de la Ley de Acceso a la Información Pública y la importante labor de incidencia de las OSC argentinas permite vislumbrar significativos pasos para consolidar un grupo de legisladores interesados en esta materia y elaborar un futuro plan de acción.

Además de socializar las experiencias de Parlamento Abierto que hay en las Américas, estos espacios fueron positivos en la medida que se recogieron opiniones de diversos actores, tanto de la sociedad civil, los parlamentos y otras entidades gubernamentales, con el propósito de fortalecer las medidas de transparencia y apertura de los Congresos. Una de las principales conclusiones es la necesidad de institucionalizar las iniciativas de Parlamento Abierto, para que se mantengan en el tiempo y no dependan completamente de la voluntad política de las mesas directivas de turno; así como la necesidad de involucrar y capacitar a los equipos técnicos y administrativos de los Congresos, son ellos quienes tienen la responsabilidad de implementar cada uno los compromisos que se asumen.

Para la región es fundamental el desarrollo de estos encuentros, ya que permiten generar redes de apoyo e identificar buenas prácticas en la materia. El próximo evento que tendrá el continente será la Primera Hackathon Legislativa Mundial 2016, organizado conjuntamente por la Unión Interparlamentaria, el Instituto Nacional Demócrata, el HackerLab de la Cámara de Diputados de Brasil y la Cámara de Diputados de Chile. Personas de todo el mundo están invitadas a trabajar en temas legislativos y para ayudar a idear codificar, y co-crear soluciones digitales que contribuyan a una mejor comprensión de la labor legislativa, y además para involucrar a los ciudadanos en el proceso legislativo.

This post was written by mySociety and originally appeared on their blog here. 

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Latin American legislatures have significant work to do to meet international standards on openness and transparency.  This is evident from the latest findings of the Latin American Index for Legislative Transparency, unveiled between 15-25 September during Global Legislative Openness Week (GLOW) in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The average country score was below 40 percent. While Peru (55%) and Chile (53%) lead the index, Argentina (36%) ranks in seventh place, followed by Bolivia (24%) and Venezuela (21%).

What does the Index measure?

The Index comprises four dimensions: (i) Legal regulations; (ii) Parliamentary work; (iii) Budget and Administrative Management; and (iv) Mechanisms for Participation, Public Engagement and Accountability.

Click here to read more.

News from the OpeningParliament.org community:

In Ukraine, protests against the government were met with brutal force. TI Ukraine expressed “burning indignation” at the government’s response. CHESNO offered dramatic videos from the legislative chamber on a no-confidence vote in the Parliament, as well as a vote to keep former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko imprisoned. Opora demanded action against the culprits and called for a support for the no-confidence vote.

In the United Kingdom, mySociety requested input on a survey about the UK Parliament’s online services and wrote about how critical research is key to the “civic power” sector. The UK Parliament recently held a hackathon (list of projects here, collected tweets here), while the House of Lords launched a new website to engage members. A number of CSOs participated in an “Open House” event on reforming the House of Commons. Simon Burall of Involve has follow-up thoughts here.

In Uruguay, DATA announced its recent membership in the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency (LALT Network), particularly relevant now that Uruguay is part of the Open Government Partnership’s Legislative Openness Working Group.

Click here to read more.

News from the OpeningParliament.org community:

In Ukraine, Chesno has had a busy month. In early September, Speaker of the Parliament Rybak pledged more transparency and openness in parliamentary proceedings during a civil society meeting led by Chesno. Then, Chesno called on the parliament to pass access to information legislation, highlighted the failure of one-third of MPs to file parliamentary inquiries, reported on the barring of journalists from committee meetings, and examined so-called “independent” MPs. Chesno also released a new series of studies on MPs who vote outside of party lines. This high level of activity came even as one of their employees was assaulted.

Also in Ukraine, Transparency International Ukraine called on the parliament to pass bill 0947, which would increase access to information, as well as a potential anti-corruption bill.

In Switzerland, Politnetz.ch developed a new webpage to publicize data around parliamentary voting, in addition to a new survey for the German national elections in partnership with the national broadcasting network. Politnetz.ch, along with local partners, has also expanded its parliamentary monitoring to cantonal parliaments, including St. Gallen and Basel-Stadt. The organization recently won a Grimme Online Award and called for e-voting. OpenData.ch covered efforts by the Swiss government to increase the availability of government data.

Click here to read more.

Organization: mySociety
Project: Alaveteli, a freedom of information request platform
Country: Uruguay, Brazil, Croatia, Spain, UK, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, Australia
Government Level: All levels, inclusive of private enterprises, universities, and other public information holders

Overview: Alaveteli is a platform designed to facilitate the submission of freedom of information requests to the relevant authority to improve access to information for all citizens.

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(This news update, by Dustin Palmer, is a continuation of that posted last week. Be sure to check back next week for news from this week (which isn’t covered in the update below… got it?))

News from the parliamentary monitoring community:

In Pakistan, during a citizens forum hosted by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab praised the role of PILDAT in improving the performance of the Punjab Assembly. The forum marked the release of a report by PILDAT on the performance of the provincial assembly over the last five years, including recommendations to further strengthen it.  The report is available in English and Urdu.

In Colombia, Congreso Visible released its yearly report on the legislature, examined the inadequate division of labor in the Congress, and considered the challenge of making legislative information visible. Additionally, Transparencia Por Colombia helped citizens to create a mural of transparency during a public meeting with the local planning council of the Bosa district of Bogotá. Citizens and local authorities renewed the Bosa Pact for Transparency and Governance. Transparencia Por Colombia also presented at the Andesco National Congress.

In Mexico, the LALT Network recently called on the international community to oppose efforts by the Mexico House of Representatives to restrict access to information and transparency. More context on these efforts - and the opposition’s response - is available from FUNDAR here and here. One factor is the lack of historical legislative data and research, which hampers the legislative process. Also in Mexico, Visión Legislativa urged legislators to to make more legislative information available, even as the Supreme Court ruled against disclosure requirements.

Click here to read more.