Following the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information, the IAIP (Institute for Access to Public Information) applied 46 sanctions to 31 institutions for denying information.
The 31 institutions have been sanctioned for violating the principle of maximum disclosure to the public that the law guarantees.
The IAIP reported that from 2007 to 2011 about 460 appeals were filed against the institutions for violating the right of access to public information. "Article 21 states that submitted the request for public information, the institution must have 10 days to resolve and in duly justified cases, this period may be extended only once and during that time," according to the law.
Since in most cases the information was denied, the petitioners filed the appeals against the 31 institutions that handle public funds.
"More than 90% of the 460 appeals known by the full commissioners IAIP was resolved in favor of the petitioners and the institutions that violated the law were required to provide public information that originally did not want to deliver," said the IAIP.
Culture, the most penalized
According to the report of the IAIP, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports has been the most penalized for denying information considered public. Administrative sanctions applied by the IAIP ranging from written reprimand, suspension, fines, dismissals or layoffs. Fines range from half pay up to 50 minimum wages.
Culture was penalized for denying information in six cases, follow the Municipality of Choluteca, the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Anthropology and the National Autonomous University of Honduras, with three penalties respectively.