By Claire Cronin

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

This Sunday September 28 is 'International Right to Know Day'; a chance to highlight the right to information and to remember how important this right is for the fulfilment of all human rights.

From securing the right to food, healthcare and education, to preserving a healthy and sustainable environment, to increasing people's participation in government and achieving gender equality, having access to information is fundamental if we are to fully exercise our rights in a meaningful way and take an active role in shaping the societies in which we live.

The importance of access to information has long been recognised by the international community. At its very start in 1946, the United Nations General Assembly recognised that "freedom of information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated".

Access to information

Although originally envisaged as an element of the right to freedom of expression, the right to information is increasingly gaining recognition as a "foundational right" necessary for the protection of every other human right.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), for example, outlines member state's obligations to provide women with access to information about family planning in order to fully protect their right to health and to be equal partners in the marriage agreement.

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development recognises that the right to a healthy environment includes the right to access government information about the environment, including hazardous materials and activities.

Corruption

Examples from around the world show us the powerful role information can play in helping people access the most basic of necessities, such as food.

In India for example, poor communities in the capital Delhi were frustrated when the shops responsible for distributing cheap rice, sugar and oil under a government food subsidisation scheme were consistently closed or out of stock. Using the Delhi 'Right to Information Act', these people requested access to government information in the form of the shop keepers' records. The records revealed that corruption was robbing people of their right to food; shop keepers were selling 80 per cent of the grain and oil on the black market for personal profit.

As a result of the information gained using Delhi's information law, the government ordered a complete overhaul of the subsidisation scheme, leading to more accountable and transparent methods of food distribution.

Obligation

Governments have an obligation to make the information that they hold easily available to their people. Democratic governments exist to represent and act of the behalf of the whole community, the information they keep is done so for the public good, using public funds collected through taxes.

There are two main steps that your government can take to actively protect your right to know: the 'voluntary disclosure' of information, and the enactment of an access to information law.

Voluntary disclosure

Voluntarily disclosing and disseminating information is an easy, cheap and effective means of protecting the people's right to know. Documents such as those describing the government's structure, roles and responsibilities, budget allocation and expenditure should be made widely available and regularly updated.

It is important that people living in rural areas and on remote outer islands are able to gain access to disseminated information so the government should use creative dissemination methods such as posting on church notice boards and improving access to information technology in rural communities.

Access to information laws



Another effective way for the government to protect your right to know is to enact a "freedom of information" law setting out the procedures by which you can submit requests for the information you want.

Over 70 governments worldwide have enacted laws protecting their citizens' right to know including most recently the Cook Islands, which enacted the very first Official Information Act in the Pacific Islands this February.

Maximum disclosure

An access to information regime should be based on the understanding that it is everybody's human right to access government files, and that information should be easily and cheaply available.

Of course, there will be circumstances in which the government can legitimately withhold information in the public interest such as where disclosure would cause a serious threat to national security or endanger a person's life or liberty. These 'exemptions' to disclosure should be limited, narrowly defined and set out within the text of the law.

This International Right to Know Day is an opportunity to remember that each of us has a human right to information, and that effective protection of this right is dependent on our government's willingness to embrace policies of transparency and openness.

Voluntary disclosure policies and freedom of information laws are practical steps that governments can take to empower their citizens, bolster democratic participation and accountability, and truly empower us to have a say in the way our countries are governed.