Abstract

CHARRIS BENEDETTI, Juan Pablo. The free, prior and informed consent as warranty of transparency in public administration. Rev. Derecho Estado [online]. 2014, n.33, pp.123-147. ISSN 0122-9893.

The prior consultation is a fundamental right recognized to ethnic gropus to decide on any type of state measure capable to impact them directly. Finds its constitutional basis in the recognition of the multicultural identity of the colombian State, under an inclusive democratic perspective; the right of peoples to decide their own priorities in accordance with their own beliefs, institutions and / or territories they occupy or use; and the right to participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of programs for national and regional development which may affect them. In this sense, the Colombian State has been the recipient of major international instruments for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, however, the legislative and governmental bodies have failed to provide the legal and regulatory instruments necessary to effect such protection, aspect that has been supplemented by an active role of the Constitutional Court. In this sense, through the constitutional jurisprudence, the colombian state has shifted from a narrow conception of the application of the right to prior consultation, to a widely extended concept toward the free, prior and informed consent, which blanket any state measure (legal or administrative) likely to affect ethnic communities, and implies that the state must seek the consent of the ethnic groups in an intercultural dialogue in good faith, and oportuned information that enables them to effectively meet the content, scope and consequences of the measures they intend to adopt. In this context, the prior, free and informed consent determines the actions of government, constituting a binding reference and ensure transparency in the administration.

Keywords : Prior consultation; free; prior and informed consent; ethnic minorities; rule of law; Constitutional Court; administrative measures; transparency.

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