INTERNATIONAL PROJECT CITIZEN INFORMATION FOR CHANGE - LETTER OF PEACE May 2008 I signed the document in INFOCC International Meeting, held from 28 to May 30, 2008 in La Paz (Bolivia)   INTRODUCTION The Charter of Peace is the result of "I InfoCC International Meeting" held in the city of La Paz (Bolivia) from 28 to May 30, 2008 and where members have participated in the Network of different disciplines and nationalities debating WORKING on solutions to the challenges currently in the access of citizens to knowledge, to public information and scientific and technological production in their countries. With the certainty that we may well promote a more just, compassionate, humane, free and democratic society, professionals in the field of information technology, public managers, academics and representatives of civil society organizations, gathered in La Paz (Bolivia ), Have signed this letter. Members of the International Network InfoCC Experts and Attendees I find InfoCC LETTER OF PEACE WHEREAS: 1) access to information, knowledge and culture is a fundamental human right to promote citizenship, human development, justice and dignity, 2) Access to culture is essential to understanding the world, for the conservation of the natural environment that sustains life and the cultural and scientific advancement of society, 3) We live in an era where the global dispersion of information and knowledge is increasingly by electronic means, and that access to knowledge across the network enables a rich exchange of information and knowledge among citizens around the world and promotes the integration of communities around common interests; 4) Free access to culture enables enhance creativity, innovation and knowledge essential to promote the formation of an educated public, also generating more economic opportunities, social and cultural rights; 5) The access to information promotes transparency in governance, aid in the fight against corruption and encourages the participation and decision-making of citizens in public affairs; 6) The new information technologies and telecommunications to share knowledge both of good practices and success stories of the problems and failures that are generated to make solutions; 7) information and knowledge as well as the storage of content, generated directly or indirectly from public investment are public goods;   8) Overcoming physical barriers, geographical and legal access to information promotes and enriches the education and transforming knowledge into a useful and common good, which contributes to overcoming social and economic inequalities and strengthens citizenship; 9) In truly democratic regimes, all native peoples, native or ancestral language groups and have the same right of expression and cultural event within the framework of national states, without discrimination of race, sex, religion, political or other; 10) Freedom of expression and the right to information guaranteed political pluralism, social and cultural development and generate a public opinion freely, is a fundamental right in any democratic society, participatory and pluralistic; 11) The demands of current society in relation to establish their communication needs to take into account the concept of sustainability-oriented projects and communication technology for development, understood as follows: to recognize and value the experience and capabilities existing in the region, generating social sustainability to the projects from a linkage and direct participation of local actors and put into service for the continuity of the projects human resources, technological and financial resources through a cooperative exchange and solidarity; 12) The promotion of research and development Technology must be dealt with a social approach and improved quality of life of our citizens by promoting human rights from the information and knowledge; 13) Privacy is a human right and should be respected as enshrined in digital media; 14) The Internet is an international public space, expression typical of the globalized world, should be managed by a subsidiary of International Atomic UN and not by a particular State, as at present. In the same way must be found that the business monopolies that control the Internet, are subordinate to the principle of the common good, striving for equity in access, traffic and use of information and knowledge; 15) The vulnerability of the source basis of the information (documentary), as well as the infrastructure that contains it (archives and other repositories), a negative effect on access to and use of information and knowledge. WE RECOMMEND THAT: 1) As a human right, the promotion of access to culture, in particular children, youth, women and older adults, to information and knowledge, should not be subject to economic obstacles to their Non-commercial broadcasting, in contrast, must be protected and encouraged by all States in the world. Culture, information and knowledge should be seen as a common good of humanity, fundamental for the promotion of citizenship. This fundamental right should be recognized at the constitutional level, legally developed and implemented effectively in society;   2) The management of information and knowledge must become part of public policies to ensure the proper operation of information systems and services that promote democratic, participatory and transparent; 3) The content of public interest or social find available, openly, electronically or physically, then provide a better use of public investments in research, innovation and culture, resulting in profits of effectiveness, with benefits for science, art, economy and society; 4) It would allow the widest possible access to information about the actions of governments, such as contracts, goods or services purchased, resources employed, those responsible for the formalities and public events in general, in order to promote maximum transparency and greater responsibility in dealing with public money. These data should be prepared through Technologies and clear technical obstacles such as passwords or access codes to citizens via the Internet or other means; 5) The technical, scientific and cultural factors that have been the result of shares and funds public institutions are publicly available, and to ensure the right to copy the results of research for scientific and educational; 6) In parallel with the potential of new information technologies and telecommunications, the act of sharing knowledge must be perceived as positive and be stimulated, then raises the flow in the networks that help to promote culture, innovation and research and creative activity with improved qualities expanded by sources of information; 7) to support decision making in the public sector and social and community projects introducing social and cultural development of the use of the software, and the use of open formats for files in relations with and among civil society in the process of promoting independence and foster technological capabilities informational in organizations and users; 8) respect the freedom of expression and plurality of expressions such as human rights, the granting to the citizens and groups in which it is organized, full realization of this right and will not be admitted its flexibility in the States and even did not allow any subtle form of censorship through communication networks, systems, content filtering and other technological means; 9) defends privacy in communications and data users against Control and monitoring mechanisms, either by governments or companies, the stresses of cleft secrecy must be done judicially in accordance with the law and with proper justification for not using this resource as a form of pressure on the citizens; 10) support policies that strengthen public institutions such as libraries, archives, museums, documentation centers, cultural collections and other community access points available to their collections without access restrictions, reproduction and distribution, and they are protected against misappropriation ;   11) Define state policies, educational converting its basic structure, providing for its dimensions to the political-ideological, technical and organizational learning and to provide funding to specific and transparent strategies to combat poverty, re - public spending directed towards social protection policies and social integration and incorporating additional new financing mechanisms that guarantee the funds needed for its effective implementation; 12) States policies and programs to promote the production of academic, educational, artistic, literary, communication in native languages, to disseminate the information so far is unknown. In this regard, the websites of government must be accessible, even to people with disabilities, and easy to use and understand; 13) The human culture is seen as a common good that the public should not be governed or determined by the interests of States national, religious or market dynamics, but should be protected by public policy development, welfare and defense of documentary heritage, scientific and cultural development of society, so as to guarantee public access by all sectors of the population, particularly the most disadvantaged in society; 14) Regional integration should promote sustainable development, full employment and communication between peoples, promoting access to information, knowledge and technology transfer, especially in those areas that affect their lives, biodiversity and traditional knowledge of indigenous people, native or ancestral, including management and access to new technologies; 15) stimulates the production and distribution of content related to the language , Folklore, culture and world view in general of aboriginal peoples, native or ancestral, so as to enable the preservation and appreciation of their world, while protecting and strengthening cultural diversity; 16) was promoted development of informational and skills of citizens and the promotion of reading and research that will enable a transformation of information into useful knowledge in their work to influence the work of public institutions; 17) To ensure access to information , Governments must have the resources necessary to strengthen the units of information they retain the source database (documentation) institutional development measures for the conservation, preservation and systematization (organization and automation) from the base source of information (documentary) As well as the development and maintenance of the infrastructure that contains it (archives and other repositories) 18) Since the Internet is a place for daily work and essential, it is necessary to develop concrete actions to reduce the technological gap, while Plans to boost information literacy and technology;   19) In order to preserve freedom of expression in a democratic state of law, it must constitute observatories media, in order to observe the necessary respect that the media must keep to the law and dignity of persons, at the same time it must strive to educate audiences on these purposes.