104 to merely pushing forward the corresponding bill, but rather should assure its prompt approval and entry into force, pursuant to the established procedures in the domestic legal code. While complying with this measure, the State should adopt all the actions that guarantee the effective prosecution, and where necessary, punishment of the facts which make up the crime of enforced disappearance by means of the existent measures in place in domestic law. iii. Access, systematization, and publication of documents in State custody 288. The Commission requested the Court to order the State to carry out all the necessary legal actions and modifications in order to make public all the documents related to the military operations against the Guerrilha do Araguaia. 289. The representatives requested the Court to order the State to: a) ensure that all State institutions and authorities be obligated to cooperate with the handover of information and the full access to all the archives and records on the possible whereabouts of the disappeared victims in the present case; b) demand the delivery of the documents that are unlawfully in the hands of private individuals; c) the adaptation of Brazilian domestic law with the international parameters of protection to the right to access information; d) duly prove the alleged destruction of official documents and investigate through the courts their destruction in order to identify, prosecute, and eventually punish those responsible, and e) visit the offices of the Armed Forces, by investigators and individuals specialized in archives foreign to the military structure, whom should be granted the broadest level of access to the pertinent military archives. In particular, regarding the Draft Bill Law No. 5.228/09 that will modify the rules on access to information in the power of the State, the representatives noted that “it is welcome,” but emphasized that the processing before the Legislative Power must be streamlined in order for it be approved as soon as possible. 290. The State noted it has adopted various measures to transform the documentary body of evidence, previously restricted, in instruments that guarantee and affirm human rights, and added that all the documents of which there is knowledge of on the Guerrilha do Araguaia are in the National Archive, available for consultation, though it recognized that said documents do not offer final information on the location of the bodily remains of the victims. In regard to the alleged existence of documents related to the Guerrilla do Araguaia under custody of the Armed Forces, it noted that all the existent documents were presented and that Decree No. 79.099/77, in force until June 24, 1997, permitted the destruction of the documents. The investigative procedures in the forum of the Armed Forces concluded that the destruction of the documents was made pursuant to said Decree. In addition, it indicated that 98% of the available documents in the National Archive correspond to records produced by organs and entities of the State. 291. Lastly, on the Brazilian legislation that regulates the right to information and that considers restrictions to access based on the security of the State and society, Brazil emphasized that the State secrecy does not fall on any document related to the Guerrilha do Araguaia. Nevertheless, it reported that on May 5, 2009, the President of the Republic presented Draft Bill 5.228/09 to the National Congress, providing a new outlook to the right to information that treats the guarantee of access to information as a general rule. Article 16 of the bill establishes that “access to necessary information for the legal and administrative protection of fundamental rights cannot be denied” and that “the information of documents that discusses conduct which implies violations of human rights carried out by public agents or mandates of public authorities

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents