<
 
 
 
 
×
>
You are viewing an archived web page, collected at the request of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) using Archive-It. This page was captured on 12:40:13 Nov 22, 2019, and is part of the UNESCO collection. The information on this web page may be out of date. See All versions of this archived page.
Loading media information hide

Building peace in the minds of men and women

Paris Peace Forum discusses how to monitor the implementation of Access to Information laws

15 November 2019

news_151119_peace_forum.jpg

© KP Information Commission - KPIC

A panel discussion was organized this week within the framework of the Paris Peace Forum 2019.

The panel included Mr Shaukat Ali, Minister of Information and Mr Azmat Hanif, Chief Information Commissioner, both of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province in Pakistan; Mr Toby Mendel, Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy (Canada) and Ms Rosa M. Gonzalez, Deputy Secretary of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). The panel was moderated by Ms Hasini Haputhanthri, a Human Rights Activist from Sri Lanka.

Pakistan has adopted one of the strongest ATI laws in the world and piloted a methodology to monitor its implementation. “Since its adoption in 2013, the ATI law has represented a paradigm shift within the citizen-state relationship in Pakistan,” said the Minister. “This explains the importance of properly monitoring the implementation of the law and to keep improving it,” added the Chief Commissioner.

Mr Mendel further explained why ATI laws are so important in developing countries, where these laws are seen as a fundamental human right. “The best existing laws have all been adopted in developing nations,” he reminded the audience.

Ms Gonzalez gave an overview on the status quo of ATI laws and their implementation worldwide. She explained that there has been an extraordinary surge in ATI laws adopted around the world in the past few years. Before 1990, 90% of the laws were passed in Western Europe and North America. By the year 2000, a second wave of laws was passed in Central and Eastern European countries. By 2005, there was a strong concentration of ATI laws in Latin America and the Caribbean and by 2015 a growing number of laws had been adopted in Africa and Asia/Pacific.

“The challenge now is to ensure that these laws are well implemented,” she added. To help Member States track progress on how these laws are being implemented, and therefore monitor SDG indicator 16.10.2, UNESCO has developed an instrument that has been piloted in 43 countries this year. Currently being finalized in collaboration with the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), the instrument will be rolled out to 193 UN countries in 2020.

As a result of this effort, there has been an increased reporting on ATI in the Voluntary National Reports (VNRs) [1] submitted this year, as well as an increased volume of data on this indicator, which has led to the upgrading of the indicator by the UN.

Information empowers people and enables them to properly exercise their legal, political, social and economic rights. Within the broader flow of information, the right to access information held by governments plays an essential role in fostering development and democracy.

With the inclusion of SDG Indicator 16.10.2 on access to information (ATI) as part of SDG 16, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development fully recognizes the role played by information in achieving peace, justice and strong institutions., There is also international consensus on the contribution of information to all other development goals, such as education, health, gender equality or access to water. This has given renewed impetus to the need to develop methodologies for properly assessing progress on ATI at the national level.

 

1. VNRs are reports submitted by countries to the UN on overall progress towards SDGs.