Organizations condemn obstruction of pandemic data
In an open letter, more than a hundred organizations criticize the government and call for transparency
Manaus, Amazonas, 05/15/20. Graves at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Cemetery due
to the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: Alex Pazuello/Semcom
More than one hundred organizations have signed a letter calling on the branches of government to investigate and punish acts of administrative misconduct. The reason for the request is the lack of transparency by the federal government in the release of data on the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the letter, the official website where data on the coronavirus in Brazil is released was offline between June 5 and 6. The electronic address now has a new site that does not report the accumulated number of cases and deaths, nor the infection and death rates per 100,000 inhabitants and lethality.
The measure taken by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro also removed historical data on Covid-19 in Brazil from the SUS (public healthcare system) repository. And the Ministry of Health has announced that it will recount the number of deaths, accusing state governments of falsifying data, even though the ministry has not proved this.
In the letter, the organizations highlight that the elimination of official information should be viewed with concern “because transparency mechanisms are essential in a democratic government to permit public participation and accountability. During the pandemic, opaqueness can cost lives”.
On the position of the federal government in relation to Covid-19 data, the organizations condemn what they consider abuse of authority in the attempt to obstruct the right to information.
The signatories of the letter are calling for the protection of the country in an appeal for the defense of transparency. According to the organizations, the federal government’s attempt to control the narrative of the pandemic will come at the cost not only of democracy, but also the lives of thousands of people, especially the most vulnerable.
Read the letter in full:
Open Letter to the Federal Government: Opaqueness Costs Lives
On the evening of June 5 until the following day, June 6, 2020, the official website with data on Covid-19 in Brazil was offline. The new site does not contain data of fundamental importance for the proper control of the pandemic, such as the accumulated number of cases and deaths, nor does it report the infection and death rates per 100,000 inhabitants and lethality. The inability to download the official database, which would allow this information to be better shared and used, is another serious obstacle in the way of the right to public information.
Retroactive measures were also taken to hinder access to information. The databases with the historical data on Covid-19 in Brazil have been removed from the SUS (public healthcare system) repository. Additionally, the Ministry of Health has announced a recount of the number of deaths, accusing state governments of falsifying data but without providing any evidence.
The elimination of an official information website should be viewed with concern. The transparency mechanisms are essential in a democratic government to permit public participation and accountability. During the pandemic, opaqueness can cost lives.
The case proves even more serious when President Jair Bolsonaro attributes some of the changes to a desire to undermine journalistic coverage of the pandemic, as when he was asked by reporters about the delay in the publication of the data, he replied: “there’s no story for the evening news”. The use of the machinery of government to attack the press, however, is nothing new to the Jair Bolsonaro government.
The lack of official information on the pandemic is not just an attack on access to information, it also attacks freedom of expression and of the press. These are not isolated cases, but instead they are part of an ongoing and systematic use of the machinery of government to hinder the work of communicators, create a hostile environment for them to practice journalism and, at the same time, reduce transparency in Jair Bolsonaro’s government. Furthermore, the right to knowledge of the entire Brazilian population is violated – which is particularly serious given the current public health emergency.
The federal government’s attempt to control the narrative of the pandemic through opaqueness and sharing information without scientific evidence or being based on reality comes at the cost not only of democracy, but also the lives of thousands of people, especially the most vulnerable.
The organizations listed below condemn the abuse of authority by the senior levels of the Brazilian federal government and the attempt to obstruct the right to information and journalism by hiding information of public interest. We appeal to the other branches of government to investigate and punish any acts of administrative misconduct with the utmost rigor. The times call for joint efforts to protect the country and the population, to defend transparency, freedom and democracy.
- ARTIGO 19
- Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo – Abraji
- Conectas Direitos Humanos
- Idec – Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor
- Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis
- Instituto de Governo Aberto (IGA)
- Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social
- Instituto Não Aceito Corrupção
- Open Knowledge Brasil
- Transparência Brasil
- Transparência Partidária
- Abong – Associação Brasileira de Organizações Não Governamentais
- ACT Promoção da Saúde
- Ação Educativa
- Agenda Pública
- Aliança Nacional LGBTI+
- AMARRIBO Brasil
- AMASA – Amigos Associados de Analândia
- ANDI – Comunicação e Direitos
- ABI – Associação Brasileira de Imprensa
- Associação Casa dos Meninos
- Associação dos Especialistas em Políticas Públicas do Estado de São Paulo (AEPPSP)
- Associação Juízes para a Democracia
- Associação Mundial de Rádios Comunitárias – Amarc Brasil
- Atados
- CENPEC Educação
- Centro de Convivência É de Lei
- Clínica De Direitos Humanos Luiz Gama – Faculdade de Direito
- CMEAR
- Confederação Nacional das Carreiras e Atividades Típicas de Estado (CONACATE)
- Congresso em Foco
- Contas Abertas
- CLP – Liderança Pública
- Creative Commons Brasil
- Datapedia
- Delibera Brasil Coletivo
- Educafro
- Fiquem Sabendo
- Foaesp – Fórum das Ong Aids do Estado de São Paulo
- Franca Transparente
- Frente Favela Brasil
- Fundação Avina
- Fundação Tide Setubal
- Gestos – Soropositividade, Comunicação e Gênero
- Goianas na Urna
- Grupo de Pesquisa em Corrupção, Desonestidade e Comportamento Ético (UnB)
- Grupo Dignidade
- Hivos – Instituto Humanista para Cooperação e Desenvolvimento
- InPACTO – Instituto do Pacto Nacional pela Erradicação do Trabalho Escravo
- Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV)
- Instituto Cidade Democrática
- Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos – INESC
- Instituto Democracia e Sustentabilidade – IDS
- Instituto Esporte Mais – IEMais
- Instituto Nossa Ilhéus
- Instituto Socioambiental – ISA
- Instituto βeta: Internet & Democracia – IβIDEM
- Intercâmbio Internacional de Liberdade de Expressão (IFEX – ALC)
- Intervozes – Coletivo Brasil de Comunicação Social
- LabHacker
- Laboratório de Inovação em Políticas Públicas do Rio de Janeiro (Labipp)
- Lute Sem Fronteiras
- Mapa Educação
- Minas Programam
- Move Social
- Movimento Acredito
- Movimento do Ministério Público Democrático
- Movimento Popular de Saúde – São Paulo
- Movimento Voto Consciente
- Núcleo Empreender Social – ACIBALC
- Observatório do Marajó
- Observatório para a Qualidade da Lei (UFMG)
- Observatório Político e Socioambiental – Instituto OPS
- Observatório Social de Belém
- Observatório Social de Brasília
- Oxfam Brasil
- Plan International Brasil
- PonteAponte
- Projeto Saúde e Alegria
- Rede Conhecimento Social
- Rede Justiça Criminal
- Rede Nacional de Observatórios da Imprensa (RENOI)
- Rede Nacional de Pessoas Vivendo com HIV e Aids – RNP+Brasil
- Rede pela Transparência e Participação Social – RETPS
- Revista AzMina
- Sardinhas do Vale
- TETO Brasil
- Transparência Capixaba
- Transparência Eleitoral Brasil
- Turma do Bem
- Vote Nelas
- WWF Brasil – World Wide Fund for Nature
- Associação da Auditoria de Controle Externo do Tribunal de Contas da União (AUD-TCU)
- Legisla Brasil
- Observatório Social do Brasil – Jacareí/SJCampos
- Projetos Integrados de Desenvolvimento Sustentável- PIDS São Paulo
- Departamento Jurídico XI de Agosto
- Instituto Sou da Paz
- Instituto de Manejo e Certificação Florestal e Agrícola – IMAFLORA
- Engajamundo
- Sustenidos Organização Social de Cultura
- Fórum Ong aids RS
- Instituto Soma Brasil
- Observatório Direitos Humanos e Crise Covid-19
- Justiça Global
- Terra de Direitos
- Parceria Brasileira Contra a Tuberculose – Stop TB Brasil – SC
- Instituto Update
- Portal Transparência e Governo Aberto
