[NYTr] Citizen Oversight Spreads in LatinAmerica
 
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:44:14 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Interpress Service - Aug 28, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39052

LATIN AMERICA:

As Citizen Oversight Spreads

by Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Aug 28 (IPS) - Citizen oversight of public institutions and
authorities is expanding in various shapes and forms in Latin America,
but in order to continue spreading, the public must become more aware
of their rights and their ability to take a more proactive stance in
guaranteeing them, say experts. "One of the characteristics of the
concept of citizen oversight is that it has many meanings," Felipe
Hevia, a researcher at Mexicobs Centre for Research and Higher Studies
in Social Anthropology (CIESAS), told IPS.

The expert defined citizen oversight -- or "contralorC-a social" in
Spanish -- as "a series of instruments and mechanisms that enable
citizens to keep watch over and monitor government action," such as
"citizen assistance systems, oversight committees, participation in
decision-making bodies, watchdog bodies, etc."

But what the range of initiatives have in common is "a legal,
institutional basis that allows citizens to carry out that work,"
explained the expert, one of the speakers at an international seminar
on "Citizen Oversight in Latin America; Experiences and Hopes", held in
the Chilean capital.

Hevia said the concept of citizen oversight is "becoming more and more
widely accepted in Latin America." But while it has great potential, he
said, in terms of opening up spaces for innovation and promoting a
culture of transparency and accountability, he warned of limitations
and challenges.

For example, citizens are often unaware of oversight mechanisms, said
Hevia, who also noted that the mechanisms do not always have real teeth
or the power to overrule the government.

The seminar was one of the activities forming part of the workshop on
"Citizen Oversight, Transparency and Citizen Participation in Public
Administration" running Monday through Wednesday in Santiago.

The workshop was organised by the non-governmental organisation
CorporaciC3n Participa and the Citizenship and Public Administration
Programme, which is the product of an alliance between the University
of Los Lagos and the CorporaciC3n InnovaciC3n y CiudadanC-a.

Hevia said Brazil was one of the countries in the region where citizen
oversight has developed the most. Latin Americabs giant is, for
example, the world leader in participatory budgeting.

In Mexico, by contrast, citizen oversight exists on paper and in
institutional form much more than in reality, he added.

One thing that stands out, however, are the citizen oversight
committees of the state of Mexico, made up of three citizens
democratically elected in a general assembly by the local beneficiaries
of public works carried out with federal, state or municipal funds. The
committees monitor the works and report any irregularities.

"You can look at the history of Latin America and see several
presidents who have been removed thanks to citizen control exercised in
a legal, legitimate manner," said Hevia, who is carrying out a
comparative study on accountability systems in Brazil and Mexico.

He mentioned the case of former Brazilian president Fernando Collor de
Mello, who was impeached for corruption and removed from office by
parliament in 1992.

Another case was that of Bolivian president Gonzalo SC!nchez de Lozada,
who was forced to step down in 2003 after a month of protests against
the governmentbs natural gas policy, in which around 70 demonstrators
were killed.

Argentine president Fernando de la RC:a also quit in the midst of
protests in December 2001, when his country fell into an unprecedented
economic crisis.

But "within the spectrum of citizen control...it ends up being more
effective to take to the streets than to attend a meeting of a
consultative council or oversight committee, because that is not where
the decisions are being reached, and pressure tactics turn out to be
more effective in keeping a check on those in power," said Hevia.

In his view, the main risk that these mechanisms of institutionalised
citizen control face is that they exist only in paper or that they are
not furnished with the resources and authority needed to effectively
exercise oversight.

Participants in the seminar described other experiences of citizen
oversight, such as Perubs "Sistema Vigila" programme, implemented since
2001 by the Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana, an umbrella group of
non-governmental organisations working at the provincial and national
levels.

The Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana (Citizen Proposal Group) draws up
quarterly reports on questions like how regional governments administer
their budgets, public spending, compliance with the law on transparency
and access to public information, and indicators of citizen
participation.

Thanks to the programme, positive changes have been seen in the
behaviour of regional governments, media interest in these issues has
grown, and institutional mechanisms for citizen oversight have
developed, said Cinthia Vidal.

The programme has also encouraged the emergence of similar citizen
initiatives, added Vidal, a member of the Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana.

Andrea Sanhueza, executive director of CorporaciC3n Participa, said that
"Chile lacks a culture of accountability, and people have not assumed a
proactive role with respect to their rights."

The countrybs decision-makers continue to believe that voting is
sufficient in a democracy, that broader public participation can
generate chaos, and that people are not really aware and informed of
the important questions, said Sanhueza.

Hevia, however, said that "In comparison with the rest of Latin
America, Chile has strong horizontal citizen control mechanisms. There
is a legislature that exercises oversight fairly well and a justice
system that, with all of its flaws, works."

"Chile has a relatively high standard with respect to the functioning
of the state of law, given its system of internal oversight. But it has
very little experience in making visible the strong role that citizens
can play in making things work the way they are supposed to," said
Gonzalo de la Maza, head of the Citizenship and Public Administration
Programme.

"The most important advance (made by Chilean President Michelle
Bachelet) is in terms of access to information," said de la Maza, a
sociologist at the Catholic University of Chile. "In that area she made
a brave decision to place (on the web sites of ministries and public
services) information at the publicbs disposal, starting with the
salaries of public employees and officials -- something that no other
administration had ever done."

"I see a certain willingness, particularly on the part of the
president, to try to expand mechanisms of public participation," he
said, pointing out that she introduced a draft law in Congress to amend
the constitution to make it possible for citizens to collect signatures
in order to get a specific statute or law passed by referendum.

"But I don't see this so clearly in terms of concrete policies or
specific instruments," he added. (END/2007)

 
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