How the loss of autonomy of the INAI would undermine the right to a healthy environment

The National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) is an autonomous body that guarantees the constitutional right of access to public information and the right to the protection of personal data. It plays an important role in controlling other traditional organs of government by making visible what is not, thus counteracting corruption and the discretion of public officials. It is also a tool that empowers citizens with information and data with which they can express their opinion, participate and demand a different or better way of governing.

In other words, by guaranteeing the right of access to information, the INAI also explodes the possibility of citizens to fight, protect and protect other human rights. One of them is the right to a healthy environment. Since the INAI was established in 2014 (and before that with its predecessor the IFAI), researchers, journalists, activists, environmental and territorial defenders, users of natural resources and other interested actors, have used this tool to point out administrative faults that are detrimental to the environment.