Promoting right to information amongst Pacific NGOs

Representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) of ten Pacific Island countries have resolved to use Freedom of Information (FOI) laws and principles to advance the values of good governance such as transparency and accountability that have already been committed by their leaders in the Pacific Plan.

This resolution came as a result of the Regional Training on Right to Information for the CSOs that was organized by the UNDP-Pacific Centre, the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) and the Pacific Centre for Public Integrity (PCPI) from August 4 to 7, 2006.

Conducted by Mrs Maja Daruwala and Mr Venkatesh Nayak from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi, the three-day right to information training further strengthened the CSOs knowledge and capacity on the subject. More specifically on the importance of right to information in a democratic society, how it can be used as a tool to enhance transparency and accountability and ways to devise effective strategies to advocate for enactment of the FOI law.

The right to information is important for many reasons. Chief among these is the contribution it makes towards:

• Creating a more open and democratic society;

• Reducing poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals; and

• Challenging corruption and enhancing transparency.

None of the countries in the Pacific have enacted the FOI law yet though a few countries have taken minor steps towards it.

Papua New Guinea’s Constitution specifically entrenches the right to information, although the Government has yet to develop separate right to information legislation.

In Fiji, the Constitution explicitly requires the Government to enact legislation on freedom of information, the current government intends to table a Bill as a priority, but the draft legislation has yet to be officially released.

The Cook Islands is the only other Pacific Islands country which has made moves to enact a right to information law. In early 2005, the drafting of an official Information Bill was completed and forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration.

In their final workshop resolution, the participants acknowledged that a key step to guaranteeing the informed participation of people in their own governance was through enacting progressive laws including in particular a liberal FOI law that meets with International standards.

Therefore, they called on the Pacific Governments to enact within the shortest possible time a FOI law that incorporates the following principles:

• Maximum disclosure;

• Minimum and narrowly defined exemptions;

• Clearly identified duty-holders;

• Inexpensive and easy access to information within specific time limits;

• An independent appeals mechanism;

• Penalty for unreasonable denial;

• Mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on compliance to Parliaments;

• Training of officials; and

• Public education about FOI.

In addition to adopting the workshop resolutions, representatives of civil society of the ten Pacific countries have also formed a working group in order to effectively engage with their Governments to assist them fulfilling the goal of securing good governance.

UNDP promotes the establishment of rights based approaches to mechanisms, public ethics and good governance systems that ensure all people, especially the poor and socially excluded, have real and meaningful access to information which will enhances their ability to exercise all their rights.