El Salvador

WHEREAS ten municipal governments of the San Salvador metropolitan area have repeatedly refused to provide information about the handling of funds for a garbage treatment project that was intended to benefit the community WHEREAS the right to information is fundamental in all democratic societies so people can obtain detailed information about the use of public funds provided by the taxpayers as a way to encourage transparency and prevent corruption WHEREAS journalists have the right to free access to information of public interest WHEREAS Principle 3 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declares that “The authorities must be compelled by law to make available in a timely and reasonable manner the information generated by the public sector. No journalist may be forced to reveal his or her sources of information” THE IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES to condemn the silence of the municipal authorities of metropolitan San Salvador and to demand that the city’s mayor, Héctor Silva, who is in charge of the project, provide the relevant information to the media.