Representatives of parliaments and civil society organizations in Latin America participate in a co-creation meeting to review and update the Road Map towards Legislative Openness
On this day, Monday, May 17, parliamentarians and parliamentary staff of Latin American legislatures and civil society organizations that are part of the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency participated in a co-creation meeting to review and update the Road Map towards Legislative Openness, which provides a framework and support for open parliament initiatives, commitments and action plans in the hemisphere.
The participants addressed topics related to the concept of open parliament and the pillars of legislative openness, namely: transparency and access to information, accountability, citizen participation and ethics and probity, and shared their thoughts on the most effective ways to implement the Road Map in the countries in the region. Among the contributions shared, they highlighted the importance of having regulatory frameworks in place for personal data protection and the fight against disinformation, ensuring accountability with disaggregated data from the national budget and actions carried out to strengthen oversight and the tracking of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting inclusive participation, engaging not only civil society organizations, but also academia, the private sector and the general public, and measures to strengthen a culture of ethics and probity, such as integrity systems, sanctions against workplace and sexual harassment, as well as conflicts of interest and parliamentary floor-crossing.
Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile Javier Macaya and Mexican Senator Bertha Caraveo, President and Vice-President of the ParlAmericas Open Parliament Network (OPN), respectively, made the opening remarks. Mr. Macaya stated that “updating the Road Map and keeping it in effect is very important, and even more so to do so with the spirit of open parliament processes in mind, that is to say, through co-creation spaces where civil society and parliamentarians can establish a dialogue and jointly determine the direction of future commitments and action plans in our countries”. This session was moderated by Member of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica Ana Lucía Delgado, First Vice-President of the OPN for Central America, who shared information about the experience of the Institutional Open Parliament Committee in Costa Rica as a strategy to ensure the sustainability of this agenda. Finally, the closing remarks were made by Member of the National Assembly of Panama Corina Cano, Second Vice-President of the OPN for Central America, who highlighted the importance of continuing to create synergies and strengthen ties between parliaments and citizens.
The process of reviewing and updating the Road Map will include the preparation of a summary of everything that was shared today, for the subsequent submission of final comments and contributions to be included in the new version of this document. Following its approval by the OPN Executive Committee, it will be released later this year.
For more information on the work carried out by ParlAmericas, go to www.parlamericas.org and follow @ParlAmericas on social media.
