The Importance of Access to Information, Past and Present: Human Rights in Contemporary Brazil

This paper explores the role that the right of access to information may have played in the development of accountability and responsiveness within the democratization process in Brazil. The authors focus on: freedom of information in general, as represented by the lifting of censorship laws that prevailed during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), freedom of access to official documents/information, (known as FOI), regulated by specific legislation and potential links between the two preceding types of information. This paper is based on the authors’ experience of conducting research on archival and/or secondary data from various government institutions and on findings from a national cross-sectional study carried out in Brazil, which reveals only weak support for freedom of information. We draw upon this source material to explore potential connections between the continuing lack of strong support from the public for freedom of information and institutional failures to respond and account to society.

Keywords: Brazil, human rights, right to information, freedom of information, access to official data.