Last October, the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries held a workshop on the identification of transparency and access to information needs in Acacías, Meta. During the workshop, women leaders of the municipality explained on a map the problems they face every day due to the extractive activity in the area, such as the contamination of rivers and streams, and social problems such as prostitution, poverty, among others.
Andrés Hernández, Director of the Citizenship Area of Transparency for Colombia, spoke about the Law on Transparency and Access to Information 1712 of 2014 explaining who are the subjects obliged to provide information, what type of information they must provide, what are the means for citizens to access it, what actions must be taken when they refuse to provide the information and finally, what information is not of a public nature, according to this norm.
During the workshop, the importance of this law for the community to have access to information on the actions that the different oil companies have been carrying out in the territory was highlighted.