The right to know is crucial in the battle for global development
Freedom of expression and information are key in the battle to fight poverty.
We believe that the
availability and accessibility of information
promotes transparency, ensures better governance and reduces
inefficiency and corruption. Information gives people the opportunity to
make informed decisions, participate in the decision making process
that affect them, and hold their leaders to account.
This Saturday (28 September) is International Right to Know Day. ARTICLE
19’s regional teams are holding a series of events across the globe to
highlight why and how access to information can change lives and
transform societies. Our case studies from the regions clearly
demonstrate this impact and point to three key policy recommendations:
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Countries should adopt RTI laws that make information easily
accessible to citizens. Those countries that do see benefits for
citizens and for improved governance.
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Having laws is not enough. Countries that have adopted RTI laws need
to invest more in informing people on how to use them to hold
governments to account and gain information that enables them to improve
their lives.
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To build on these national laws and initiatives to promote wider
accountability in all countries, access to information needs to be
included in the new post-2015 development goals. As the centre of this
should be a target for legal recognition in every country that
individuals have a right to access information held by government bodies
and others that is relevant to their needs.
For over ten years, ARTICLE 19 has led the movement to link achievement
of global development goals with the right to information.
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We campaign to establish strong legal frameworks that protect the right for people to be able to access information.
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We support a culture of openness, encouraging governments to provide
people with information in order that they can make informed decisions
about their lives.
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We work to support the free flow of information among the public and
support the creation of an active civil society, so that governments may
be held to account and to ensure that they serve all those that they
govern.
ARTICLE 19 pushes the agenda at the United Nations
The United Nations General Assembly is currently meeting in New York.
One item on their agenda is a discussion of how to continue to work
towards meet the needs of the world’s poor. Negotiations are underway to
set a series of goals that will follow on from the Millennium
Development Goals, which all UN member states agreed to strive to
achieve by 2015.
ARTICLE 19’s Dave Banisar writes from New York about why the right to information is so vital in the fight against poverty.
The right to know in East Africa…
ARTICLE 19 is helping people forced to flee their homes by helping them
use information to hold state authorities to their promises.
Read more>
The right to know in Senegal…
How ARTICLE 19 is helping women use information to improve maternal health concerns.
Read more>
The right to know in Bangladesh…
How ARTICLE 19 is working with communities to campaign for better environmental protection.
Read more>
The right to know in Brazil…
ARTICLE 19 is helping rural communities in the dry zone get better and
cleaner water supplies by accessing information and using knowledge to
campaign.
Read more>
The right to know about the big road
ARTICLE 19 Brazil have also just unveiled a new film highlighting the
vital role that the right to information plays in fighting to protect
local communities and the environment.
The documentary tells the story of families who are at risk of being
forced off their land by the State of São Paulo, to make way for the new
road ring - Rodoanel. The final stretch of the road that is being built
to complete the ring crosses Cantareira, the world’s largest urban
forest.
The people living there do not know when or if they will have to leave
their homes. If they remain, they know little about how the road will
affect the environment, their land and the water supply. The film
demonstrates how the right to know if a crucial human right for all.
Watch it here >
